Summary
André Laurent is the captain of a salvage boat
and lives in the Brittany port of Brest with his wife Yvonne. Concealing
a serious illness, Yvonne pleads with her husband to give up his hazardous
job and start a new life with her in another town, but, loyal to his employees,
André refuses. One night, he is called to rescue a merchant
ship in distress. The captain of the distressed ship has no intention
of paying André for the rescue and absconds once the ship has been
towed to safety, leaving behind his wife Catherine. Suspecting that
his marriage is crumbling, André finds himself attracted towards
Catherine...
Review
Remorques continues the trend in poetic realism
which was so popular in French cinema in the 1930s and reunites stars Jean
Gabin and Michèle Morgan (previously seen together in Marcel Carné’s
film Le Quai des brumes)
in another ill-fated romance.
The familiar formula is perhaps
showing signs of fatigue in this film, and mediocre special effects do
little to enhance the film’s credibility. However, Gabin and Morgan
are as captivating as ever and the atmospheric photography (complete with
some achingly beautiful shots of the Brittany coast) serves to emphasise
the perilous nature of the those who live by the sea.
Remorques was a significant
commercial success for its director Jean Grémillon, who somehow
managed to weather the storm of near-catastrophic production problems.
Filming had to be aborted in September 1939 at the outbreak of World War
II, and the film was not available for release before 1941.
©James Travers 2002
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