Un acte d’amour (1953) - film review

Some years after the war, an American, Robert Teller, pays a visit to a seaside town in the South of France.  He casts his mind back to 1944, recalling his time in Paris immediately after the Liberation.  There he met a young woman named Lisa, who had no family, no money, no papers.  Taking pity on Lisa, Robert agrees to share his room in an inn with her.  Lisa’s initial hostility towards the American GI soon turns to affection, much to the disgust of her other admirer, Claude, a Frenchman who bitterly resents the Americans’ presence in his country...

Immediately after his impressive wartime drama Decision Before Dawn (1951), Anatole Litvak made a return to France for his next film, Un acte d’amour , a big budget melodrama which starred the legendary American actor Kirk Douglas.  The film is based on the novel "The Girl on the Via Flaminia" by Alfred Hayes, with the setting shifted from Italy to Paris shortly after the Allied invasion during WWII.

In stark contrast to the hard edged realism of Litvak’s previous Hollywood offerings, Un acte d’amour shows strong similarities with the director’s earlier romantic dramas, notably his 1936 film Mayerling.  In spite of a somewhat unconvincing storyline, the film grabs our attention for two main reasons – the alluring deep focus noir photography (a recurring feature of Litvak’s cinema) and the exceptional performances from a mixed American, British and French cast.

Opposite Kirk Douglas is the attractive Dany Robin in one of her first big roles.  Both actors are convincing and bring a touch of old-fashioned poetic realism to the film, which the cinematographic style amplifies, making this feel rather like a French film from an earlier decade.  The supporting cast includes some other high-profile actors of the period, notably Serge Reggiani, Gabrielle Dorziat, Fernand Ledoux and Brigitte Bardot.  British viewers will instantly recognise Leslie Dwyer (a great English character actor with a distinguished career in film and television) in a small but memorable comedy role.

One of the first Franco-American productions, Un acte d’amour was shot entirely in France, making good use of real locations in Paris and Villefranche-sur-Mer.  During the filming, Kirk Douglas was to meet Anne Buydens, a press officer who became his second wife not long after work on the film was completed.

© James Travers 2007

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