''Two English Girls'' (; UK title: ''Anne and Muriel''), is a 1971 French romantic

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French filmmaker, actor, and critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. He came under the tutelage of film critic Andre Bazin as a ...

and adapted from a 1956

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

of the same name by Henri-Pierre Roché. It stars Jean-Pierre Léaud as Claude, Kika Markham as Anne, and Stacey Tendeter as Muriel. Truffaut restored 20 minutes of footage, which fills out the characters, before his death in 1984. The novel was first published in English in 2004, translated by Walter Bruno and published by Cambridge Book Review Press, Cambridge, Wisconsin.

Plot

The film begins in Paris around the year 1902. The narrator (Truffaut himself) explains that Claude Roc and his widowed mother are visited by Anne Brown, daughter of an old friend. Anne invites Claude to spend the summer on the coast of

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

with her widowed mother and sister, Muriel. While she enjoys Claude's company, her hope is that he may be a husband for her introverted sister, who has problems with her eyesight. In the event, Claude and Muriel do start to fall in love and Claude overcomes her initial resistance and persuades her to agree to marriage. Madame Roc, supposedly concerned about their poor health and with the agreement of Mrs Brown, says they must live apart for a year without any communication before getting married. Returning to France, Claude moves in artistic circles and has affairs with a number of women while Muriel in Wales keeps a diary and becomes increasingly despondent. Claude, with his mother's encouragement, writes to Muriel, breaking off the engagement, as he wishes to be free to focus on his business pursuits. Muriel is devastated. Anne leaves home to study sculpture in Paris, where she loses her virginity to Claude. She agrees to have a non-exclusive affair with Claude, enabling him to continue to have affairs with other women, and eventually has a concurrent relationship with Diurka, a dashing publisher who then takes her off to

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

with Claude's encouragement. Muriel sends her diary, which includes details of her experience of a childhood lesbian event and her consequent prolonged struggle against an urge for masturbation, to Claude, who publishes it against her wishes. Muriel comes to Paris and she and Claude rekindle their love. However, when Muriel is told by Anne of Claude's affair with her, at Claude's insistence, she collapses into deep depression and returns to Wales. Anne has become engaged to a Frenchman called Nicholas but falls ill and also returns to Wales, dying among her family with Diurka at her side. Diurka tells Claude that Muriel is leaving home to take a job in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. Claude meets her ship at

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...

and they spend that night together in a hotel, during which Muriel also loses her virginity. In the morning, she says they must now part for ever as Claude is unsuited for matrimony, despite his renewed offer of marriage. Later, she writes to say she is pregnant, raising Claude's hopes of marriage, but a second letter says she was mistaken and their relationship is truly at an end. He later hears that Muriel has married and is a schoolteacher with a daughter. Claude turns the whole saga of his relationship with the sisters into a novel, which is published by Diurka. In an epilogue set in the 1920s, the narrator explains that Claude, who is now a successful author, but unmarried, and whose mother has died, still dreams of the artistic gifts of Anne and the children he and Muriel might have had.

Cast

* Jean-Pierre Léaud as Claude Roc * Kika Markham as Anne Brown * Stacey Tendeter as Muriel Brown * Sylvia Marriott as Mrs. Brown * Marie Mansart as Madame Roc * Philippe Léotard as Diurka * Irène Tunc as Ruta * Mark Peterson as Mr. Flint * David Markham as the palmist * Georges Delerue as Claude's business agent * Marcel Berbert as the art dealer * Annie Miler as Monique de Montferrand * Christine Pellé as Claude's secretary * Jeanne Lobre as Jeanne * Marie Iracane as Madame Roc's maidservant * Jean-Claude Dolbert as the English policeman * Anne Levaslot as Muriel as a child * Sophie Jeanne as Clarisse * René Gaillard as a taxi driver * Sophie Baker as a friend in the café * Laura Truffaut as a child * Eva Truffaut as a child * Mathieu Schiffman as a child * Guillaume Schiffman as a child *

as The Narrator

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the film has an approval rating of 87% based on reviews from 15 critics. Albert Johnson wrote about the film for its local premiere at the San Francisco Film Festival in 1972: "The film is a gorgeously colorful, poignant romance, as delicately ornate and rare as an enamel brooch by Lalique. Truffaut is a genius at this sort of haunting love story, and ''Two English Girls'' is cinema-perfection." The film was a box office flop in France, Truffaut's first unsuccessful film domestically since ''The Soft Skin''.Tho audiences may be jaded, Truffaut will remain Truffaut Mills, Bart. Chicago Tribune 6 Aug 1972: i13. Disappointed with its reception in France, Truffaut decided to restore over 20 minutes of footage to the film, a project he completed just before he died in 1984. This version was released after his death in 1985. Critics such as Tom Wiener believe it improved the film.

References

* MacKillop, Ian (2000) ''Free Spirits: Henri Pierre Roché, François Truffaut and the Two English Girls'', Bloomsbury, London,

External links

* {{Authority control 1971 films 1971 romantic drama films French romantic drama films 1970s French-language films Films scored by Georges Delerue Films directed by François Truffaut Films based on French novels Films set in Paris Films shot in Paris Films set in Wales Films with screenplays by François Truffaut Films about sisters 1970s French films