Christine, the French period melodrama film based on the 1894 play “Liebelei” (Flirtation) by Arthur Schnitzler, was directed by Pierre Gaspard-Huit.
The title character was played by Romy Schneider, cast opposite the very young and handsome Alain Delon as a young lieutenant (his third film).
Schnitzler’s play had been filmed in 1933 by Max Ophüls as Liebelei, starring Romy Schneider’s mother, Magda Schneider.
In 1906 Vienna, a young lieutenant Franz (Alain Delon) has an affair with a married baroness, Lena. He decides to put an end to it when he meets Christine (Romy Schneider, Delon’s fiancée in real life), a musician’s daughter.
Christine is almost engaged to composer Binder, but she falls in love with Franz. Franz breaks it off with Lena, but her husband the Baron Eggesdorf has already discovered the affair.
While Christine and Franz plan their wedding, the Baron challenges Franz to a duel.
In the tragic ending, Franz is killed, and Christine commits suicide.
At the time, Schneider was one of the most popular stars in Europe, having enjoyed success starring in the Sissi film trilogy. Christine was an attempt to duplicate this, being aimed more at the French market.
Delon had only just begun his career, and he and Schneider began a romantic affair that continued on and off for several years.
In France, the film had 2,848,858 admissions, making it the 17th most popular film at the box office in 1958.
The most popular film was DeMille’s epic The Ten Commandments; number four was another film starring Schneider, the Austrian production Sissi, Fateful Years of an Empress.
Cast
Alain Delon as Franz Lobheiner
Romy Schneider as Christine Weiring
Micheline Presle as Baroness Lena
Sophie Grimaldi as Mizzie
Fernand Ledoux as Weiring
Jean-Claude Brialy as Théo Kaiser
François Chaumette as Wimmer
Jean Davy as Colonel
