'Horseman' Makes Love in the Time of Cholera

Though it takes on the dimensions of a 19th-century adventure and a love story, the French film "Le hussard sur le toit (The horseman on the roof)" ultimately doesn't succeed as either. Attempting to put new a "psychological" spin on old themes, yet still clinging to elements of an oddly oldfashioned romanticism, it may leave you wondering what you're supposed to feel. As a result, it left this viewer feeling very little at all.

Set in the post-Napoleonic France of 1832, the movie centers on the adventures of Angelo (Olivier Martinez), a young Italian army officer exiled from his country as a rebel against the Austrian empire. No safety is to be found in France, however, as he is first glimpsed fleeing from secret agents of the Austrian government. He rides posthaste through the south of France, which is being ravaged by an epidemic of cholera, and eventually meets up with some of his comrades and fellow exiles. On the way, he takes refuge in the house of a young French woman (Juliette Binoche), who, with a poise and breeding equal to his own, treats him with unquestioning hospitality.

Soon after rejoining his friends, Angelo decides to return alone to Italy, only to discover that the border has been closed off for fear of the cholera. He also meets the young woman who helped him, whom, we do not learn until much later, is called Pauline de Theus, and is the wife of a marquis. He assists her in crossing the border, and insists on riding with her as guide and protector. As the two journey on together they build a curious kind of relationship, which never develops into intimacy since each quickly encounters a quality of deep reserve in the other. In due course, Pauline unbends slightly, but is confounded by Angelo's total impenetrability. For though he obviously cares for her and never leaves her side, he consistently refuses to step outside the rigid code of his impersonal chivalry--until the final moment of crisis, which becomes a crucial test of his love and devotion.

The story as a whole is pretty similar to Angelo's journeys: both are given a certain amount of momentum by chases, deaths, fights with mobs and soldiers, but remain essentially aimless, lacking in direction and overarching purpose. Emotional and psychological themes are also, for the most part, given short shrift; threads are taken up for awhile that eventually go nowhere. There is a childhood friend who betrays Angelo to the Austrians, but if this is meant to be a poignant disillusionment, it's too halfhearted to strike any chords. Angelo and Pauline are each haunted by outside characters--his mother and her husband--who dominate their actions and whose unseen presences constantly stand between them. But for all his references to her, we never get to see, let alone know, Angelo's mother, and we learn very little about the Marquis de Theus. The relationship between the two characters we actually see is the strongest part of the movie, in what it leaves unsaid--the silent bond between them, and the growing sexual tension which Angelo refuses to confront.

The other major theme of the movie, that of the deadly epidemic, is hammered home with graphic zeal that stirs more repulsion than pity. At regular intervals, some random victim will appear and proceed to die horribly in spite of all Angelo's heroic efforts, suspending the viewer in a permanent state of ghoulish expectation. Those not killed by the cholera are reduced to panic-stricken animals, ready to turn on anyone suspected of spreading the dread disease. Oddly enough, this aspect of human nature is portrayed in a purely comic manner, highlighted by a brief but very funny cameo appearance of Gerard Depardieu as the harried mayor of a cholerastricken town. However, this humor doesn't really lighten the rest of the movie, which is pretty plainly meant to be taken seriously.

This is evidenced in the final intersection between the two overriding themes, love and death. In terms of plot, the crisis is fairly predictable, and takes the easy way out. However, it culminates in a weirdly erotic scene fusing death and sensuality with a frankness which may jar those who were expecting a different kind of erotic climax. Admittedly, it effectively forces Angelo to finally shake off the constraints of his pride--and the rigid code he has used as a shield against his own feelings. But the remainder of the movie seems to run out on itself, and the ending, though possibly meant to be subtly moving, is only disappointing. "Horseman on the Roof" simply fails to catch fire, though it succeeds partially in capturing the complexities of a relationship between two proud people.

Often, some random victim will appear and proceed to die horribly.