Yves Montand: The Passionate Voice

This vivid if uncritical biography by journalist Harriss (Jean Gabin) chronicles the life of French actor and singer Yves Montand (1921–1991), who spent his early years in a “hardscrabble hilltop hamlet” in northern Italy before Mussolini’s fascist regime drove his parents, who were vocal communists, to flee with their family to Marseilles, France, when Montand was three. He began singing in his late teens and was soon booking small tours. In 1941, he caught the eye of Édith Piaf’s agent, who signed Montand and introduced him to Piaf, whom Montand dated for several years, during which time “she polished his stage manner, his education, and his repertory” while raising his profile. Harriss provides a detailed account of Montand’s singing and film career—which included starring roles in Z and Jean de Florette—as well as his vocal political activism. (Montand was a die-hard leftist until Soviet repression during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution disillusioned him about communism.) Unfortunately, Harriss glosses over the less flattering aspects of Montand’s life, brushing past his would-be first film role in a movie funded by the Nazi regime during its occupation of France (the director destroyed the project before it was released) and his stepdaughter’s allegations of sexual abuse. This pulls its punches, but cinephiles will enjoy the studious treatment of one of France’s most celebrated actors. (Jan.)