Joseph Losey - Eva (1962)

Joseph Losey's turbulent melodrama concerns a phony writer, Tyvian Jones (Stanley Baker), who has recently sold the film rights to his autobiography as a Welsh coal miner (actually penned by his deceased brother). Tyvian is engaged to Francesca (Virna Lisi), an alluring screenwriter, but then Eva (Jeanne Moreau) walks into his life. Eva and her lover had sought shelter from a thunderstorm in his apartment and Tyvian is immediately attracted to her. He follows her to Rome, where Eva demands an elaborate hotel suite, tons of gambling money, and a bonus for sexual favors. When Tyvian assents in gratifying her wishes, Eva just laughs at him. Tyvian then has to rush back to Francesca, since they are going to be married. But Tyvian forsakes her on their honeymoon and takes up with Eva again. Finding Tyvian and Eva together, Francesca is heartbroken and she commits suicide. After the funeral, Tyvian sets his sights on killing Eva, but, when he sees her, he finds that he is still obsessed with her.





Elegant and lush, and filmed in Venice, Rome, and rural Italy, Joseph Losey's Eva is a cold, cruel film about crippling insecurity and sexual manipulation. Burly Stanley Baker simmers as a swaggering but self-loathing Welsh author happily indulging in the continental high life, covering up a devastating secret with braggadocio and sneering machismo; Jeanne Moreau has never been icier as the cruel, manipulative, high-rent prostitute Eve who becomes his obsession. They never become more than fascinating enigmas, but they send off sparks in an indulgently fatalistic film that wallows in human weakness and emotional self-destruction. Beautifully filmed and elegantly scored, with Billie Holiday tunes weaving a sad sense of loss through the picture, Eva became a showcase for Losey's arresting visual style and electrifying direction, and the springboard for such later, more restrained masterpieces as The Servant, Accident, and The Go-Between. (Sean Axmaker)









Un escritor de éxito llamado Tyvian Jones (Stanley Baker), comprometido con una guapa guionista llamada Francesca (Virna Lisi), halla en su casa de Venecia a Eva (Jeanne Moreau), una bella mujer acompañada por un amante de mayor edad.
Este encuentro arrastra a Tyvian hacia una pasión por su persona, cumpliéndole todos sus caprichos con tal de conseguir su amor.

Una película basada en la novela de James Hadley Chase (“La banda de los Grissom”) que sublima el poder de seducción de la atractiva actriz francesa Jeanne Moreau, musa de la nouvelle vague, que aquí interpreta a una chic femme fatale, amoral, insensible y melómana, cuya mayor preocupación es el dinero, que utiliza para comprar discos de jazz y para participar en juegos de casino.



Losey décrit dans ce film librement adapté de James Hadley Chase l'enfer du couple dans une Venise hivernale et glacée et poursuit plus avant ses recherches sur l'architecture comme partie intégrante de l'action. Il y utilise les miroirs et les statues en contrepoint du drame qui se joue entre Jeanne Moreau et Stanley Baker.





p,