After watching two of his silent shorts, 'Elena and her Men (1956)' is my first feature-length film from French director Jean Renoir, and I quite enjoyed it. However, I didn't watch the film for Renoir, but for star Ingrid Bergman, who – at age 41 – still radiated unsurpassed beauty, elegance and charm. Throughout the early 1950s, following her scandalous marriage to Italian Roberto Rossellini, Bergman temporarily fell out of public favour. Her next five films, directed by her husband, were unsuccessful in the United States, and I suspect that Renoir's latest release did little to enhance Bergman's popularity with English-speaking audiences {however, she did regain her former success with an Oscar in the same year's 'Anastasia (1956)'}. She stars as Elena Sokorowska, a Polish princess who sees herself as a guardian angel of sorts, bringing success and recognition to promising men everywhere, before promptly abandoning them. While working her lucky charms to aid the political aspirations of the distinguished General Francois Rollan (Jean Marais),she finds herself falling into a love that she won't be able to walk away from. This vaguely-political film works well as either a satire or a romantic comedy, as long as you don't take it too seriously; it's purely lighthearted romantic fluff.

Filmed in vibrant Technicolor, 'Elena and her Men' looks terrific as well, a flurry of bright colours, characters and costumes. Bergman's Polish princess is dreamy and somewhat self-absorbed, not in an unlikable way, but hardly a woman of high principles and convictions. She is persuaded by a team of bumbling government conspirators to convince General Rollan to stage a coup d'état, knowingly exploiting his love for her in order to satisfy her own delusions as a "guardian angel." Perhaps the film's only legitimately virtuous character is Henri de Chevincourt (Mel Ferrer, then Audrey Hepburn's husband),who ignores everybody else's selfish secondary motives and pursues Elena for love, and love alone. This, Renoir proudly suggests, is what the true French do best. 'Elena and her Men' also attempts, with moderate success, to expose the superficiality of upper-class French liaisons, through the clumsy philandering of Eugène (Jacques Jouanneau),who can't make love to his servant mistress without his fiancè walking in on them. For these sequences, Renoir was obviously trying for the madcap sort of humour that you might find in a Marx Brothers film, but the film itself is so relaxed and laid-back that the energy just isn't there.

Being both a fan of Renoir and Ingrid, imagine my surprise that they happened to collaborate on "Elena and Her Men!" Having yet to be disappointed by Renoir (Rules of the Game being one of the top five 20th century French films),I knew from the description that it wouldn't quite reach those heights but it should still be fun.

Having watched it through, I have to say that the comparisons made to Rules of the Game happen quite enough in Elena that would make the latter seem trite. Even so, and despite the annoying presence of Mel Ferrer (was he dubbed?) and the sub-plots with Eugene-Denise-Lisotte, I have to say that Ingrid Bergman more than makes up for it, with Renoir showing her in all her luminosity in the beautiful dresses (and she certainly out-acts everyone else). The film itself is a little muddled, the previously mentioned sub-plots and other elements like the gypsy woman not quite fitting together (and the ending seems quite cheesy for Renoir, at least for me). All in all watch it if you are a Bergman fan.

This is my second viewing and I didn't really like it on my first. Actually it is good if you can skip the scenes that took place at Elena's fiance chateau. The main criticsms for this movie is its convoluting and muddling plot. There were so many unnecessary characters in the background chasing up and down running and making stupid faces and movements. At same time the generals were upstairs laying out plots of overthrowing the government that it gets so convoluted and viewers couldn't follow through and they lost ineterest. On the flip side, the colour was superb. I like the technicolor they used in films during this period. It was so rich, striking, and bold. Ingrid Bergman was so radiant and gorgeous filmed in color. She was a dramatic actress not a comedienne so it was interesting to see her pulling it off in the middle of those chasing, yelling, and screaming scenes. The film suffers anytime she was not on screen. I think most of viewers agree. They wanted or can I say it begged for her to be back on screen. Renoir wanted to film Ingrid Bergman smiles. And my God what a smile it was. The ending was masterpiece, it was magic. You have to experience it and feel it to appreciate it. When it comes to kissing you can count on French! Very recommended.