Charming and brutal

A different way of telling a story

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Blistering performances.

SPOILERS;SPOILERS"The other side of midnight" is the melodrama of Sirk and Stahl in the seventies ;the only thing that is new is nudity .In "leave her to Heaven " there was self-induced abortion, and suicide disguised as homicide;in "midnight" ,Marie -France Pisier is more practical -minded :she uses a coat hanger;and Raf Vallone does not even need a dead body to make sure his lover will be sentenced to death.Marie-France Pisier,who is considered in her native France an intellectual actress ,and thus is cast against type ,was never as attractive as in "midnight" .At the beginning of WW2,a fighter pilot (John Beck)got her pregnant and left her .As many heroines of melodrama ,she becomes wealthy and famous and revenge is a dish best eaten cold.The movie includes all the available clichés and for kitsch lovers it is a true delight:Paris Romantique with the usual Quais De La Seine and the Eiffel Tower and the Trocadero ,Greece and the tycoons (Raf Vallone 's character was probably inspired by Aristote Onassis :don't we learn he left a diva for Noelle?),Cathy (Susan Sarandon)drinking like a fish -her "death" in a pasteboard and plastic sea is a great moment as is the scene of the caves,the landing in Zurich ,and to top it all ,the sinner in her wedding gown facing the fire squad .It has to be seen to be believed !And do not tell that Charles Jarrot is not a true art house movies maker. In his 1971 movie,he told the story of two women who did not live in the same country whose destinies met ,Mary Stuart and Elizabeth the First. Here ,a French girl and another one,who lives on "the other side of midnight" ...like Mary and Elizabeth ,they never really met ,but their lives were closely linked .

I have always loved this movie from the first time I saw it. First of all Marie France-Pisier is a beautiful woman and she plays the part perfectly. She is in Paris in the 40s after being pawed by every lech, and then meets the man she falls in love with - a soldier. Perfectly played by John Beck. I love the actor that plays Constantine and seeing Susan Sarandon in this - I had almost forgotten. Something about this movie appeals to the woman in me that has been groped and pawed all my life by men, against my will. I love her revenge. That is the story a story of abuse, love and revenge. I like the movie. It will not win an academy award, but it is one of my favorite. It keeps me engaged like a good mystery novel.

What a success this film was in Australia in 1977.... it ran for months gathering momentum among shop assistants and daytime single women ticket-buyers as a much whispered about 'must see'. well for us fellers, it was a bit raunchy showing off Gallic nubile sexiness among the ruins of Paris in WW2. I guess it also caused the rise of the miniseries movie potboiler drama that paved the way for THE BETSY, THE Greek TYCOON and many other 2hr plus glossy romantic efforts.... most long forgotten. TV really corralled this type of book/drama on film with DYNASTY and KNOTTS LANDING etc. I am surprised that is was considered a flop in the USA when a big hit elsewhere. My main memory is from a suburban cinema in Sydney....400 person sized crowd of couples.... then shocked silence during a bathtub abortion scene... followed immediately by (only) one huge athletic man staggering from his seat in a state of distress, dizzy from what he had seen, lumbering Frankenstein monster-style across the aisle, and ploughed headfirst through the plaster wall on the stairway to the foyer. The building shook and we ran to see what happened. There he was, head first through the wall, slumped in collapse, with frantic audience members trying to pull him, legs first, from the hole. He woke up and started crying: "Awww I didn't like that" he sobbed. We had to stop the projector, tell everyone that he was alright and re wound the film. "Aww don't show that bit again" he protested, so we didn't, we re started from just after. With a mug of tea and his tears wiped up, we re sat him with his cringing date and the movie rolled on....and on and on. Just so you know...FROM NOON TILL THREE is a funny (!) Charles Bronson western with Jill Ireland.. equally as enjoyable 70s. No bathtub abortions but a good train smash.

The scenery in Marseilles, Paris, Washington and Greece was nice, but the movie had some problems.First of all, the movie was just too long. There are long montages of love scenes that just keep going and going. Yes, we get the idea. They are falling in love.Second, having all the dialog in English is just not real enough. Maybe that style was fine, for 1977, but it would have been more enjoyable if two people from France would speak French to each other. Maybe subtitles were not in vogue in the late-70's... although George Lucas used them in Star Wars for various aliens.Third, the ending was more of an international film ending that a Hollywood ending and, since this was distributed by Twentieth Century Fox, I expected a Hollywood ending, but was denied. And why does Constantin care about Catherine anyway? I was scratching my head on that one.Fourth, Larry is schizophrenic. I like him, I hate him, he's romantic, he's a cad, he settles down, he fools around. I got whiplash trying to keep up.While Marie-France and Susan were technically great, the best actor in the film was Clu Gulager, playing his minor character role with perfect subtlety. It's too bad he wasn't part of the courtroom scene towards the end of the film. I almost laughed when I saw Sorrell Booke (Boss Hogg) with a French accent.The plot of the story was compelling though. Two stories, seemingly separate, yet you start to piece together how these stories will come together. This was very enjoyable.But can anyone tell me what title has to do with the film? This is a pet peeve of mine. Marketing titles that mean nothing in the story.This movie split it right down the middle for me, 5/10. Worth watching once, but probably never again.