Circonstances atténuantes (1939)
Directed by Jean Boyer

Film Review

The summer of 1939 was a great one for French comedy.  Within a month of their memorable pairing in Fric-Frac (1939) Michel Simon and Arletty were brought together for another round of burlesque fun, one that takes its inspiration from Marcel Arnac's popular 1929 novel À l'héritage ou Les Vacances singulières.  Director Jean Boyer shared the screenwriting duties with Jean-Pierre Feydeau, the son of the distinguished playwright Georges Feydeau, so any resemblance to a Feydeau farce can hardly be called accidental.  It was Boyer who gave the effervescent Arletty her star-making role in La Chaleur du sein (1938), another comedy that partnered her with Michel Simon. 

Circonstances atténuantes is a film that is perfectly calculated to exploit the comedic talents of its two stars.  Arletty is, once again, captivating as the proverbial 'tart with a heart', a role that stuck to her for most of her career, and Simon is hilarious as a well-meaning judge who has some odd notions when it comes to reforming criminals.  With its frequent allusions to la fraternité des hommes the film feels like a nostalgic throwback to the optimistic days of the Front Populaire, not something that was released just a few months before the outbreak of World War II.  Like Jean Renoir's La Marseillaise (1938), Circonstances atténuantes looks like a conscious appeal for national unity (all social classes working together rather than against one another) at a time of impending crisis.

The film's highlight comes twenty minutes in, an enjoyable (albeit slightly protracted) choral rendering of its famous song Comme de bien entendu, composed by Georges Van Parys with lyrics by Jean Boyer.  It wasn't often that Michel Simon and Arletty were called upon to exhibit their musical talents on screen, so the fact they do so here, and with evident enthusiasm, adds greatly to the film's appeal.  The song (a valse musette which recounts a love story that turns sour) became an instant hit record (interpreted by another legend of French cinema, Albert Préjean) and was, apparently, sung by French soldiers as they went to war with Nazi Germany.  That France quickly fell to Germany can presumably be put down to extenuating circumstances.

Film Synopsis

Two months into his retirement Gaëtan Le Sentencier, once a busy and highly respected judge, finds himself at a loose end.  By way of distraction, he decides to take a holiday with his wife at Plombières-les-Bains.  On the way, their car breaks down and, as a storm threatens, they take shelter in a small hostelry on the outskirts of Paris.  Here they encounter a colourful collection of Parisian lowlife consisting of petty criminals and prostitutes.  So warmly are they received by the landlord Jules Le Bouic that Le Sentencier and his wife put aside their prejudices and take a liking to their seedy entourage.  Le Sentencier even manages to convince everyone that he is an experienced thief and agrees to lead the crooks on their next criminal enterprise - to rob his own house!  When Le Sentencier's new friends discover the truth they are far from happy, but the former judge wins them round by pleading extenuating circumstances...