L'Affaire Maurizius (1954)
Directed by Julien Duvivier

Film Review

Between Le Retour de Don Camillo and Marianne de ma jeunesse, director Julien Duvivier made L'Affaire Maurizius, a Franco-Italian crime-drama based on a 1928 book by Jakob Wasserman.  The script of this little-known film was constructed from interviews, statements and reports concerning a famous miscarriage of justice.  Accused of the murder of his wife, a man is given a life prison sentence because he was up against a ruthless prosecutor who did not care much for the truth.  The man must now face his own son, who is charged with uncovering all the secrets of the case.

Duvivier was not interested in making a suspense thriller or a whodunit.  He is more concerned with showing a personal and dark vision of humankind through the inhumanity of the judicial system; it is a theme that would have suited the filmmaker André Cayatte.  Never before has Duvivier shown us such a darkly pessimistic view of man and society.  In this twisted amoral fairytale, no one is capable of being saved.

In one of his most experimental films, Duvivier employs a mise-en-scène that is far from conventional for this kind of drama.  Past and present are filmed in bare, unfinished sets: closed streets with walls made of black panels, big empty rooms in which the actors are playing with barely existent objects.   As in the early expressionist films, the sets are designed to reflect the inner moods of the protagonists.  For example, the prison cell serves to remind Maurizius of the time that has passed since his trial; his father's apartment suggests a character who has become trapped by his resentment and hatred.

We can perhaps reproach Duvivier for not exercising more control over his actors, who sometimes show a tendency to overact.  Up and coming star of the 1950s, Daniel Gélin may have been inspired by the sets but his performance as the main character is a tad theatrical.  Charles Vanel (already used by Duvivier in La Belle équipe) is perfect in a less nuanced role, as a hard and cruel man.  Sadly, the magnificent Madeleine Robinson has an underwritten part, even though her character plays a pivotal role in the story.  Likewise, the lovely Italian actress Eleonora Rossi Drago plays a crucial part that is barely skimmed over in the film.

The biggest disappointment comes from the great Anton Walbrook (admirable in Max Ophüls' films La Ronde and Lola Montès) who verges on ridicule in a grotesque and dreadful role.  Duvivier's disturbing commentary on blind justice can be seen by some as a minor and disappointing work; by others, as a lucid film which has the greatness of a Greek tragedy.  In any event, L'Affaire Maurizius is the most bitter jewel in the director's career.

Film Synopsis

Wolf Andergast began his illustrious career as a magistrate eighteen years ago with a murder case that resulted in a young man, Léonard Maurizius, being sent to prison for life.  Andergast's son Etzel now has good reason to believe in Maurizius's innocence and sets out on his own investigation to uncover the truth.  It seems that Maurizius's conviction for the murder of his wife Élisabeth hinged on the possibly flawed testimony of one crucial witness, Grégoire Waremme, a man who now lives under an assumed name at a boarding house in Zurich.

After gaining the old man's confidence, Etzel manages to get Waremme to tell his story.  It seems he was in love with Élisabeth's sister Anna and it was Anna, not Maurizius, who committed the crime after a violent row.  Unable to stand by and watch the woman he loved be condemned for a crime of passion, Waremme felt compelled to give false evidence at Maurizius's trial.  The matter now tidily resolved, Etzel arranges for the wrongly convicted man to be set free, but Maurizius has by this time given up the will to live...