Seven Days... Seven Nights

Anne Desbarèdes is a young woman who is married to a wealthy businessman and lives a monotonous existence in the small commune town of Blaye. After indirectly witnessing a murder in a café, she returns to the scene of the crime the next day and meets Chauvin, who informs her in more detail about the events that took place. Mentally unbalanced, Anne begins to believe that Chauvin intends to kill her.

• Jeanne Moreau as Anne Desbarèdes
• Jean-Paul Belmondo as Chauvin
• Pascale de Boysson as bar owner
• Jean Deschamps as M. Desbarèdes
• Didier Haudepin as Pierre
• Colette Régis as Miss Giraud
• Valeric Dobuzinsky as Assassin (as Valéric)

Marguerite Duras novella Moderato cantabile was published in 1958. Peter Brook secured the film rights and wanted to offer the lead role to Jeanne Moreau, whom he had directed in a Paris production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.{{cite news|title=Peter Brook film director|last1=De la Mare|first1= Richard|last2= Hatton|first2= Maurice|newspaper= The Guardian|date=29 November 1962|page=6}}

However, Brook's only other film, The Beggar's Opera, had been a box-office flop and he found difficulty raising money. According to a newspaper report, "after almost a year of financial, artistic and emotional blackmail and diplomacy, Raoul Levy undertook to produce the film for love."

Levy described the film as "a romantic suspense story that only uses two principals. I guess that you could say that, through the basis of a passive love story, we learn how a crime of passion was committed."{{cite news|title=BY WAY OF REPORT: Notes From a 'Moderato Cantabile' -- Addenda|first=A.H.|last=Weiler|newspaper=New York Times |date= 29 November 1959|page= X7}}

Levy wanted Simone Signoret to play the female lead, but Brook wanted Moreau, and by contract Brook, Moreau and Duras enjoyed complete artistic control. Brook admitted that this was "very unusual" but insisted that the film needed "assured and delicate" handling to succeed.

Brook says that Levy did not understand the script but "was convinced that if Brook, Moreau and Duras saw something in it, something must be there." Levy did not show the script to potential financiers; instead, he told them: "Look here, you turned down The 400 Blows because you couldn't understand the script, you turned down Hiroshima Mon Amour; well, I can't make head nor tail of this script and what's more I'm not even going to show it to you - but I want 30 million francs." Levy was able to secure the funding that he had sought.

The male lead role was awarded to Richard Burton, who was to play the part speaking French. "This one is for art, not money," said Burton, "For a classical actor, the key thing is variation - unusual kinds of things in different media. It's all a matter of expanding one's acting range."{{cite news|title=Burton Will Star in French Movie: Teamed With Mile. Moreau in 'Moderate Cantabile' -- Busy on Screen, Stage, TV|newspaper=New York Times|date= 20 January 1960|page= 25}} However, Burton was forced to withdraw shortly before filming was to begin. He later claimed that this was because "French unions objected at the last minute to a British actor appearing in an all-French production, even though England's Peter Brook was the director."{{Cite news|title=FITZGERALD STORY PLANNED FOR FILM: Burton and Lumet Schedule Production of 'The Rich Boy' -- Four Movies Opening|last=Archer|first=Eugene|newspaper=New York Times|date=10 February 1961|page= 21}} Jean-Paul Belmondo replaced Burton, selecting the film role instead of a competing theatre role. He would not appear on stage for over 25 years.

During filming, Belmondo was involved in an automobile accident while driving that injured Moreau's son.

The film performed well at the box office in Paris but struggled elsewhere.

Duras later said that she felt that Brook had "made the film beautifully."{{cite news|title=Marguerite Duras: An Interview in Paris|first=Harold|last= Hobson|newspaper= The Christian Science Monitor|date=7 March 1963|page= 11}} However, Belmondo, who preferred making adventure films, disliked the picture. In a 1964 interview, he said:

It was very boring. Like Antonioni's films, Marguerite Duras' script was full of sous-entendus (hidden meanings). Everyone was looking something significant in every expression. You didn't just drink a glass of wine. You asked yourself, 'Why does she want me to drink it?'{{cite news|title=THAT MAN' BELMONDO ON A MOVIE MERRY-GO-ROUND|first=Joseph|last=Barry|newspaper=New York Times|date= 21 June 1964|page= X7}}

The film was released in the U.S. as Seven Days... Seven Nights in 1964. The Los Angeles Times called it "perfection."{{cite news|title=Moderato Cantabile Poetic Study of Love's Labor Lost|last=Thomas|first= Kevin|newspaper= Los Angeles Times|date=9 June 1965|page= d12}}

The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival. Jeanne Moreau won the award for Best Actress. The critic from the New York Times who attended the festival called the film "dull and empty."{{cite news|title=FOCUS ON AN UNIMPRESSIVE CANNES FILM FETE: Disappointing Entries, Some Bizarre Awards Mar Annual Riviera Show|last=Hawkins|first=Robert F|newspaper=New York Times|date=29 May 1960|page=X5}}

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|0054091}}
• {{tcmdb title|id=83797}}
• [http://www.lefilmguide.com/review/moderato-cantabile-1960.html Seven Days... Seven Nights]{{Dead link|date=December 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} at Le Film Guide

{{Peter Brook}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seven Days Seven Nights}}

Category:1960 films

Category:1960 drama films

Category:Films based on works by Marguerite Duras

Category:Films directed by Peter Brook

Category:French drama films

Category:1960s French-language films

Category:French black-and-white films

Category:Films about adultery in France

Category:1960s French films

Category:French-language drama films