Les Visiteurs du soir (1942)
Directed by Marcel Carné

Film Review

Immediately after completing his poetic realist masterpiece Le Jour se lève (1939), director Marcel Carné had intended to adapt the popular James M. Cain novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, with Jean Gabin, Michel Simon and Vivian Romance lined up for the principal roles.  For various reasons, Carné chose to abandon this project, allowing his contemporary Pierre Cenal to adapt Cain's novel as Le Dernier tournant (1939) whilst he and his faithful screenwriter Jacques Prévert conceived a far grander production, one that was destined to be one of the biggest cinema events during the Nazi Occupation of France.  Les Visiteurs du soir represents a seismic departure from the dark realist melodramas that had so far predominated in Carné's oeuvre, a fairtytale fantasy that could hardly be further removed from presentday concerns in occupied France.  The film was both a major critical and commercial success and whilst it is now overshadowed by the director's subsequent masterpiece Les Enfants du paradis (1945) it is, of all Carné's films, the one that is most poetic and visually striking.

The scarcity of resources and the ever-present threat of German censorship meant that Les Visiteurs du soir was far from being a trouble-free production.  Yet, despite these pressures, Carné was able to assemble a cast and crew of exceptional ability and together they delivered one of the grandest films made in Europe during the war, one that rivalled comparable Hollywood efforts in its production values and aesthetic qualities (the sets and costumes are particularly impressive).  The two big names in the cast list are Arletty and Jules Berry, both perfectly matched to the roles that are alotted them.  Arletty was one of the most charismatic French actresses of her time and would often as not be cast as the mischievous femme fatale, the part that she effectively plays in this film.  She had previously distinguished herself in Carné's Hôtel du Nord and would later become immortalised as Garance in Les Enfants du paradis. 

Jules Berry was another actor renowned for playing morally deficient characters, and as the Devil in Les Visiteurs du soir he is in his element.  This was the role that Berry was most eager to play - evidenced by his willingness to learn all his lines before shooting began, something he very rarely did (alas, once he got into the studio, he forget his lines).  There is such a manic relish to Berry's performance that he monopolises our attention in every one of his scenes.  When he makes his grand entrance near the film's turgid midpoint, we know exactly who he is and that the fireworks are just around the corner.  Jules Berry's bravura turn as a dandified Old Nick struggling to get his own way is undoubtedly the film's main attraction, and in the end you cannot help pitying the poor misguided wretch.

The lack of humanity displayed by Arletty and Berry's characters is effectively contrasted with the torrents of human feeling exhibited by Anne and Gilles, magnificently played by Maria Déa and Alain Cuny (both at the start of their illustrious film careers).  A brace of fine characters - including Fernand Ledoux, Marcel Herrand and Roger Blin - completes the ensemble to perfection, along with a job lot of dwarfs who caused Carné no end of trouble on account of their hypersensitivity and aversion to stunts.

Marcel Carné has stated that his main motivation for making Les Visiteurs du soir was to avoid censorship difficulties.  It would be far easier for the Nazi censors to find fault with a film in a contemporary setting that one that takes place in a fictional land of the 15th century.  It has often been commentated that the film is far less innocent than it seems, that it is in fact an allegorical commentary on the occupation.  This is perhaps most evident in the final sequences, in which the Devil fails to lure the heroine from her true love and becomes exasperated when he cannot extinguish the beating heart of the lovers, even when they have both been turned to stone statues.  The message of defiance is less direct than that seen in Carné's subsequent Les Enfants du paradis, but it is there all the same, for those who want to see it. 

Right up until his death, Carné denied that the film was a conscious attempt at an anti-Nazi allegory; he maintained that it was an escapist fantasy, in a similar vein to his subsequent films Juliette ou La clef des songes (1951) and Le Pays, d'où je viens (1956).  Even though it is all too easy to ascribe a meaning to a film that was not intended by its authors, it is hard to believe that Carné and Prévert did not have Hitler in mind when they came up with their interpretation of the Devil - a monster that delights in sowing discord, who expects unquestioning allegiance from his minions, and who completely underestimates the power of love and the resilience of the human spirit.  But that is in essence the beauty of Les Visiteurs du soir - like all great art it allows you to project whatever meaning you want onto it, to interpret it as you will.

Film Synopsis

In the 15th century, two travelling musicians named Gilles and Dominique arrive at the castle of Baron Hugues, just as a party is in progress to celebrate the impending marriage of Hugues' daughter Anne to the brave knight Renaud.  The two musicians are in truth emissaries of the Devil, sent to disrupt the wedding for their own amusement.  Whilst Dominque seduces Renaud, Gilles makes an easy conquest of Anne.  However, the purity of Anne's feelings for Gilles soon overwhelm the latter and he falls hopelessly in love with her.  This unexpected turn of events forces the Devil to put in a personal appearance, and he is far from happy with the way things are shaping up...