Le Désordre et la nuit (1958) - film review

Inspecteur Georges Vallois is called in to investigate the murder of Albert Simoni, the owner of a night club in Paris.  The prime suspect is Lucky Fridel, a young German woman who came to Paris to start a career as a singer. Vallois is seduced by Lucky and ends up falling in love with her, although he discovers that she is a drug addict.  Intending to protect Lucky from the police, Vallois pursues his own private investigation, realising that whoever is supplying Lucky with dope is very probably the person who murdered Simoni...

Le Désordre et la nuit is a good example of the French film noir of the latter years of the 1950s, and it is interesting to compare this film with earlier crime thrillers.  Over the decade, the French film noir generally showed a marked migration away from the dark seedy underworld which was prevalent in the American film noir of the 1930s and 1940s, towards a more sophisticated, lighter, variation on the same theme.  The night clubs, trenchcoat wearing cops and gun-totting villains, femme fatales, prostitutes are still there, the emphasis has shifted, with dialogue playing a greater importance in the film (a typically French characteristic).

The shock pairing of an ageing Jean Gabin and a near-adolescent Nadja Tiller is one of the things which makes this a memorable and enjoyable film.  Gabin’s loneliness and disillusionment with his life is apparent, as is Tiller’s vulnerability and need to be loved.  Despite their age difference, the two actors have a genuine rapport which provides the film with a feeling of humanity which is often lacking in French thrillers of this period.  Although she plays a lesser role in the film, Danielle Darrieux is equally captivating when she finally appears.

Another distinguishing characteristic of this film, and the thing which most gives it a sense of modernity and energy, is the almost omnipresence of jazz music.  The film makes good use of its jazz star Hazel Scott, the whole film appearing to come to life when she appears with her jazz troupe at various sections in the film.

© James Travers 2002

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