This film consists of the memories of the famous musician, Marin Marais (Gerard Depardieu),reminiscing about an even greater musician, Monsieur de Sainte Colombe. Now understand, these were real French musicians from the 17th and 18th century, but apparently very, very little is known about Colombe and the story is from a novel consisting of lots of conjecture by Pascal Quignard...so don't accept this as the gospel!

Monsieur de Sainte Colombe (Jean-Pierre Marielle) is a very strange man--an angry weirdo, certainly. His wife died young and unexpectedly and his reaction is odd to say the least. He gave up his work and retreated to his shabby country home with his two young daughters. The home is a rather joyless place though he eventually taught his daughters to play the Viol de Gambon...a seven-stringed musical instrument popular during this era. Over time, they became brilliant at playing and they established quite the reputation...so much so that he is invited to court to play for King Louis XIV. But he is an oddball and so he steadfastly refuses...only playing a yearly concert for locals and otherwise living his simple life.

Into this very mundane world comes a young Marin Marais (played here by Gerard's real life son, Guillaume). He begs Colombe to take him on as a student...something he never did before, aside from teaching his two daughters. And, briefly they work together though it ultimately ends in tragedy...and what that is you'll just have to see for yourself.

If you are wanting to see a happy and uplifting movie, this is NOT for you. Much of the film is very somber and depressing, though the music is also quite lovely. However, it is well made though I am apprehensive to heartily recommend it for two reasons. First, it's not exactly a fun film and is incredibly somber...and some may now want to see such a movie. Second, the film does much to make Marais look like a total jerk...and is that hardly fair to the man's memory considering the story is essentially fiction??

It's late 17th century. The viola da gamba player Monsieur de Sainte Colombe comes home to find that his wife died while he was away. In his grief he builds a small house in his garden into which he moves to dedicate his life to music and his two young daughters Madeleine and Toinette, avoiding the outside world.

The first thing that struck me about this film was the title. Although it has a translation as a subtitle, the proper title is the French one, even for the American release. That is rather uncommon, and would tend to scare people away, so it was a brave decision on someone's part.

And the second thing is Gerard Depardieu. As I understand it, this was still a couple years before American audiences knew who he was. It is easy to see how he went from national (French) fame to international. He is clearly the breakout actor in everything he does.

The film relates the real story of Monsieur de Sainte Colombe, one of the most renowned viol players of the 17th Century, with a few fictitious anecdotes added to make it more interesting.

The dialogue is simple, using our contemporary vocabulary, but the turn of the phrases are typical of 17th Century parlance, whose style recalls the writings of the French dramatists of that epoch, like Pierre Corneille or Jean Racine. The whole story is told from Marin Marais' point of view.

The music, intimately linked to the story, also provides a rhythm. Almost every scene has to do with music, unless it provides an explanation. Along the way, we are treated to some great music: the little known music of Sainte Colombe, that of Marin Marais, both exquisitely played by Jordi Savall, but also the music of Jean-Baptiste Lully (his rousing "March for the Turks' Ceremony"),of Francois Couperin, and of Jordi Savall himself.

The two characters, Monsieur de Sainte Colombe and Marin Marais, differ wildly from one another in their physical appearances, personalities, and manners. Sainte Colombe is a Jansenist, stern, taciturn, and somewhat old fashioned, and he chooses a life of a recluse upon his wife's death. His only effective means of expression is his music. Sainte Colombe's house is calm, rustic: it's the country. Marin Marais is young, ambitious, and sees a career in music as a way to change his social class, and he is ruthless in his pursuit of his aims. Marais' residence is in Versailles, at the Court of Louis XIV, with all its brilliance, luxuries and happenings.

The actual playing of the viol by the two protagonists could not be more different: Marin Marais' playing is dexterous, and a display of its virtuosity, in search for an audience's approval, while Sainte Colombe's is inspired, passionate and full of sorrows. Savall was careful in his choices of the pieces to be played by the two characters in order to illustrate their different approaches to music.

Gerard Depardieu's son, Guillaume, just starting in his acting career, interprets Marin Marais as a young man. He succeeds well at projecting the character of a somewhat shallow but determined young man. Gerard Depardieu appears in the first six minutes of the film, and later toward the end of the film as the mature Marin Marais. His acting is conveying the depressed state of mind of Marais in a convincing manner. Throughout the film, the voice-over gives a sense of nostalgia and regret to the story. But it is Jean-Pierre Marielle's performance which steals the show. He is just outstanding as the austere, taciturn Jansenist. Anne Brochet's acting is delicate, as a simple and sincere young woman, and Carole Richert, as her sister, is convincing as an easygoing Toinette. Violaine Lacroix and Nadège Teron, in their roles as the two daughters in their earlier years, were an inspired choice. Their personalities and acting well defines the differences in the characters of the two sisters, which are later developed by Brochet and Richert.

The film also pays tribute to 17th Century painting. Lubin Baugin, a Jansenist friend of Sainte Colombe, famous for his still lifes, paints the pictures "Still Life with Wafers" and "Still Life on the Chessboard." Also, one cannot watch this film without comparing Yves Angelo's gorgeous cinematography to the chiaroscuro paintings of Georges de la Tour. Angelo's images are stunning in rendering this effect in the interior scenes.

Alain Corneau's many close-up shots and extreme close-up shots bring intimacy between the characters and the viewer, producing an intimate contact with the actors' deepest feelings, which could not possibly be rendered by dialogue. This requires the outstanding acting of the two actor-musicians, especially during their music-playing scenes.

The film is an ode to the inner beauty and the meaning of music, and its main theme is the love of music. All the characters in the film are connected to music. At first, there is a divergence of views between the two protagonists as to the purpose of music and of being a musician. However, Savall chose "Le tombeau des regrets," the piece Sainte Colombe composed for his dead wife, for Marais' "last/first" lesson from his Master, which they play together in a mutual understanding. Their antagonism resolves itself in a final confrontation, which turns out to be a reconciliation, as Marais finally understand the true meaning of music and that of being a musician.

Another theme is Death. The first images of Sainte Colombe, showing him playing his viol at the bedside of his dead friend, identify him with funeral music. This baroque theme of the juxtaposition of life and death permeates the whole film. The type of painting by Lubin Baugin ("Still Life on the Chessboard") was called a "vanity," a popular genre in the Baroque era, especially in Holland, and had a symbolic value connected to the Ecclesiastic quotation "vanitas vanitatis," -- vanity of vanity, all is vanity, which is in keeping with this particular theme. The message is to meditate on the world's pleasure as death threatens. The opposition between life and death appears in the duality between the two sisters; one chooses life and the other chooses death. The wife's death leads Sainte Colombe to close himself from the world and compose "Le tombeau des regrets." And it is Madeleine's death which leads Marais to reaching his full potential as a composer. As such, death proves to be a source of life, and art makes it possible to revive the beloved. As Orpheus with his lyre, Sainte Colombe with his viol is able to recall his dead wife from Hades.

All the Mornings of the World is an exquisite film, with great acting, great cinematography and atmosphere, and of course great music, which will certainly appeal to music and history enthusiasts, but also to people eager for new aesthetic experiences.