L’Affaire d’une nuit (1960) - film review

One day, Michel Ferréol reluctantly meets up with an old school friend, Antoine Fiesco.  Michel didn’t like Antoine much when they were at school and tries to get away by making an excuse.  He changes his mind when Antoine introduces him to his wife, a beautiful brunette named Christine.  From the latter’s revelations about her husband, Michel suspects that she may be willing to spend a night with him.  When Antoine leaves to go back to work, Michel invites Christine to a restaurant where he hopes to seduce her.  She refuses to go with him to a hotel but, to Michel’s surprise, she will allow him to make love to her at her own apartment, in the knowledge that her husband could come back at any moment...
© Willems Henri (Brussels, Belgium)

In between two blockbusters - La Vache et le prisonnier and Le Président - Henri verneuil, one of the most popular French film directors from the 50s until the 90s, puts his signature to a script adapted from a novel by Alain Moury entitled L’Affaire d’une nuit.  The first viewers could see the result in cinemas on 14th September 1960.  This very Parisian black and white dramatic comedy reflects the mood of a certain middle class at the time.  This very pleasant, intimate piece of work about a controversial love triangle one night reflects an atmosphere that still can be found today in some cafés in Paris and at locations used in the film. 

After working with luminaries like Jean Gabin, Fernandel, Alain Delon, Jean-Paul belmondo and Michèle Morgan, Verneuil is well-served here by his three main actors - Pascale Petit (who worked with Marcel Carné on Les Tricheurs), Roger Hanin and Pierre Mondy, who, having appeared in supporting roles many times, at last have their names in big letters on the film poster.  Last but not least in a sequence filmed in a well-known restaurant at the heart of the Les Halles neighborhood one can notice a cameo appearance by Brigitte Bardot and her husband-actor Jacques Charrier, sitting at a table with producer Christine Gouze-Renal (Roger Hanin’s real-life wife) and Henri Verneuil himself.  The DVD of this 3 star film is available.  You can always try it as a "one night affair".

© Willems Henri (Brussels, Belgium) 2012

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