Summary
One evening, Migo, a dancer at a Montmartre nightclub, decides to take
her revenge on her cheating boyfriend, Rodrigue. She fires two
shots with her revolver, but she misses her target and instead wounds a
passer-by, a man named Petrus. When the latter refuses to press
charges, Rodrigue slips him a wad of cash, which, unbeknown to Petrus,
are forged banknotes. When Petrus decides to spend the cash in
the nightclub where Migo works, Rodrigue contrives to get the money
back. Petrus is determined to make Migo happy and, realising that
she loves only one man, she blackmails Rodrigue into carrying on his
love affair with her, even though he is planning to run off with
another woman...
Review
An excellent cast (which includes some of the biggest French actors of
the day) elevates this humdrum melodrama to something that just about
passes for entertainment. Marc Allégret’s direction is
competent but hardly inspired, and Marcel Achard’s screen adaptation of
his own stage play is flat and unevenly paced. Fortunately, some
pleasing performances from the lead actors save the day.
Brasseur makes a convincing Don Juan, as smooth as a chocolate milkshake, and only slightly less sick-making. Simone Simon is an obvious casting choice for the part of the lovelorn ingénue; the actress had only recently returned to France after her spell in Hollywood, taking a walk on the wild side with such films as Cat People (1942). In one of his early dramatic roles, Fernandel demonstrates that he can play more than just vaudevillian parts in low budget comedies, allowing him to win more challenging roles in the years that followed.
© filmsdefrance.com 2009
Write a review for this film...
Brasseur makes a convincing Don Juan, as smooth as a chocolate milkshake, and only slightly less sick-making. Simone Simon is an obvious casting choice for the part of the lovelorn ingénue; the actress had only recently returned to France after her spell in Hollywood, taking a walk on the wild side with such films as Cat People (1942). In one of his early dramatic roles, Fernandel demonstrates that he can play more than just vaudevillian parts in low budget comedies, allowing him to win more challenging roles in the years that followed.
© filmsdefrance.com 2009
Write a review for this film...
User Comments
Useful links
- Best French films of 2011
- Best French films of the 2000s
- Best of the French New Wave
- Best of French film comedy
- The best 100 French films
- The most successful French films
- Great French filmmakers
Related links
- Other French films of the 1940s
- The best French films of the 1940s
- Other French romantic films
- The best French romantic films
- Biography and films of Marc Allégret
To buy this film
Check DVD and Blu-ray availability:
Credits
- Director: Marc Allégret
- Script: Marcel Achard, Marc Allégret, Marcel Rivet
- Photo: Michel Kelber
- Music: Joseph Kosma
- Cast: Fernandel (Petrus), Simone Simon (Migo), Marcel Dalio (Luciani), Pierre Brasseur (Rodrigue), Dominique Brevan (La Fleuriste), Corinne Calvet (Liliane), Cora Camoin, Jean-Roger Caussimon (Milou), François Deschamps, Dimeray, Jean Fleury, Gabrielle Fontan, Guy Fournier, Genevieve Ghil, Abel Jacquin (Renault), Lacloche, Jane Marken, Lucienne Rengnac
- Country: France
- Language: French
- Runtime: 95 min; B&W
Similar films
If you like this film you may also like the following:- Angèle (1934)
- Le Bonheur (1965)
- Les Bonnes femmes (1960)
- Carmen (1926)
- Des gens sans importance (1955)
- L’Éternel retour (1943)
- Feu Mathias Pascal (1926)
- Goupi mains rouges (1943)
- Lola (1961)
- Lumière d’été (1943)
- Les Portes de la nuit (1946)
- La Règle du jeu (1939)
- Le Rouge et le noir (1954)
- Week-end à Zuydcoote (1964)
Important French filmmakers






- François Truffaut
- Jean Cocteau
- Abel Gance
- Jacques Demy
- Jacques Rivette
- Jean Renoir
- Jean Grémillon
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Marcel Carné
- Claude Chabrol
- Claude Lelouch
- Réné Clair
- Marcel Pagnol
- Eric Rohmer
- François Ozon
- Bertrand Tavernier
- Bertrand Blier
- Claire Denis
- Jacques Tati
- Jacques Audiard
- Maurice Pialat
- Robert Guédiguian
To buy Pétrus:

Drama / Romance


