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| Harry Baird and Nicole Berger in The Story of a Three Day Pass |
Cast: Harry Baird, Nicole Berger, Hal Brav, Tria French, Pierre Doris, Christian Marin. Screenplay: Melvin Van Peebles, based on his novel. Cinematography: Michel Kelber. Film editing: Liliane Korb. Music: Melvin Van Peebles, Mickey Baker.
The Story of a Three Day Pass is a tale of expatriation made by an expatriate, Melvin Van Peebles. Turner (Harry Baird), a Black American soldier stationed in France, is granted a three day pass by his captain (Hal Brav), which he plans to spend in Paris. There he meets Miriam (Nicole Berger), a young French woman, and goes with her to the coastal town of Étretat. In the midst of a romantic weekend, in which they declare their love for each other, they are spotted by a trio of his fellow servicemen. Turner fears the worst: They will tell the captain that he was seen there with a white woman, and he will suffer for it. The film that Van Peebles develops from this situation is highly influenced by French New Wave directors like Jean-Luc Godard, using surprise cuts and unusual camera angles -- in one scene, for example, when the couple enters the hotel room they've rented, they're seen from overhead, like participants in an experiment. Van Peebles emphasizes Turner's isolation and loneliness, as in a scene when he goes to a sidewalk café and sees three Black men at another table. Although they acknowledge one another with a wave, they don't make contact, suggesting that African expatriates in France have little in common with an American expatriate. Van Peebles maintains a steady tension born of Turner's displacement throughout the film, sometimes with a sly humor. When Turner and Miriam have sex, we enter their fantasies: He imagines himself as a prince arriving at a castle; she sees herself as the captive of African tribesmen. A low-key, bittersweet film, The Story of a Three Day Pass touches and amuses while also seething with a repressed anger.
