L'Accompagnatrice

Ever get the feeling that life is passing you by? That's how it is for 20-year-old Sophie (Bohringer) as she reaches womanhood in Occupied Paris. Brought up in tenement-block poverty by her single mother, Sophie is ecstatic when she lands a job as piano accompanist to gifted singer Irène Brice (Safonova), becoming her devoted employee and companion. Taken into the wealthy home she shares with husband Charles (Bohringer père), Sophie soon learns that Irène is having an affair, and the young girl enthusiastically enmeshes herself in the household's drama as a way of filling the void at the heart of her own existence. Claude Miller is a master of the lingering close-up and the subtlest nuances of character. This is essentially a film about the inner life, and the cast all deliver highly complex performances. Sophie is revealed in her fragility and passion; there's also the jealousy and bitterness she feels in her role as accompanist to the true players of life. Safonova meanwhile illuminates the absolute joy of being given a celestial voice.