Green Room, The

VHS, PG, 95 minutes

In a most personal and rigorous film, Francois Truffant becomes Julien Davenne, a man who so loves the dead that he can no longer love the living. Davenne's obsession with the memory of his dead wife has spread to encompass all those he knew who are now gone, a process heightened by his guilt of surviving that first World War. While building a shrine to his dead, he meets Cecilia (Nathalie Baye), who is also in mourning. She falls in love with him, thereby giving him a last chance at resurrection. This film, which is based on Henry James' "The Alter Of The Dead", surprised Truffaut fans and critics. The director's portrayal of the icy Julien, combined with Nestor Almendros' somber, Goya-like cinematography, ventured deeper into darkness than most Truffant films, and earned reviews like"...strangely moving, with shocks of true poetry..." (Newsweek).