It is important to remember here that it was written by a priest. Maybe the character of Tiberge is his alter ego, a family friend of Enrico's who does everything he can to help him but who cannot do much in the end, due to his holy office. The love story has always remained debatable. Who is to blame for the tragedy, Manon Lescaut or her lover? The general consensus seems to be that none of them is to blame, as they simply are the victims of their fate, as they can do nothing against the fact that they love each other too well. The story has been adapted for the stage in numerous versions, and Puccini's famous opera was not the first opera version. He made it a great passion of music, which wasn't well communicated before. His music is used in the film for an accompaniment, which greatly adds to the romantic spirit of the film, while the film has greatly truncated the story. In the film they never reach America, while their passion just brings them out to nowhere, where she dies. In the book he survives her and returns to Paris to become a priest. The operas tend to forget that conclusion and let their dying passion be the finale and end of the story. The direction is wholly admirable, the 18th century is perfectly brought to life with all its affected manners, and all the actors are perfect, especially the two protagonists, Myriam Bru and Franco Interlenghi. The film is only one hour and a half, much more could have been made of it, as the operas usually stretch to some 3 hours, but the colours, the costumes, the settings with wonderful garden parties in Rococo Paris make this film well worth while. It gives at least a hint of the actual passion drama, which Puccini succeeded best in projecting on the stage.
