Le Tonnerre de Dieu (1965) - film review

Léandre Brassac is a misanthrope and alcoholic, who lives on a large remote county estate with his wife, Marie.  Brassac has a reputation as a violent and unpredictable man, but who has a love for animals, particularly dogs.  Upset by his wife’s inability to bear him a child, Brassac picks up a prostitute, Simone, in Nantes, the local town, and takes her back to his chateau.  Although disgusted with Brassac’s behaviour, Simone enjoys life on his farm and contrives to heal the rift between Brassac and his wife.  Unfortunately, Simone’s former boyfriend intends to reclaim his supposed fiancee, by force if necessary...

Although scarcely remembered today, when it was released in 1965, Le Tonnerre de Dieu was an amazing success, and one of the most popular films made in France up to that point.  Although the story is pretty anodyne, even by the standards of the 1960s, it has a characteristic French charm and sincerity which even today’s audience should find enjoyable.

The most notable thing about this film is that it unites two contrasting legends of French cinema, Jean Gabin and Michèle Mercier.  Gabin plays the surly alcoholic landowner whilst Mercier plays the wily prostitute.  It is a remarkable pairing which works very well.  The friction between the two central characters is one of the film’s most important ingredients, and Denys de la Patellière’s choice of casting appears impeccable.

In the second half of his career, in distinct contrast to his traditional romantic hero roles before the War, Gabin developed a very strong lugubrious persona which served him well in over a score of films.  Le Tonnerre de Dieu shows Gabin at his most expressive and moody – his outbursts really do appear like a thunderstorm, shattering the tranquillity of the countryside.

For her part, Michèle Mercier is no less memorable as the beautiful yet thoughtful young woman torn between unwanted boyfriends, an abusive host and ultimately true love.   The film was made just after Bernard Borderie’s Angélique, marquise des Anges , in which Mercier played the lead role of fate-buffeted romantic figure, Angélique   This was the first in a series of five Angélique films, which, whilst earning Mercier international fame, effectively type-cast her the rest of her acting career.  Films like Le Tonnerre de Dieu and Truffaut’s Tirez sur le pianiste therefore reveals a slightly different, more enigmatic, Michèle Mercier to the one we are more familiar with.

© James Travers 2000

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