Film Review
Although the latter part of his career was blighted by some notable
misfires and unfair comparison with the work of his younger
contemporaries (including the directors of the French New Wave such as François Truffaut),
Julien Duvivier retains his reputation as one of the great creative forces in French cinema,
not only an accomplished director in the unfairly derided 'quality' tradition
but also a canny experimentalist. Many of his films of the 1930s and
1940s - such as
La Belle équipe (1936),
Pépé
le Moko (1937) and
Panique (1946) - have become
classics which show not only immense technical flair but also a
penchant for innovation. Despite being dismissed as old hat
by his detractors, Duvivier often took risks in his later years,
pushing the envelope almost as spiritedly as his rivals in the Nouvelle Vague.
Marie-Octobre is one of his more
successful experiments - a compelling
huis clos drama
that offers some disturbing reflections on the nature of justice.
Shot on a single stage set in just 23 days, this was one
of Duvivier's more minimalist productions, but it proved to be a notable
hit with critics and audiences alike - one of the director's last commercial successes.
A contributing factor in the film's immense popularity was its
remarkable cast, which includes some of the biggest name French actors
of the period - Danielle Darrieux, Bernard Blier, Paul Frankeur, Lino
Ventura, Paul Meurisse and Serge Reggiani. The gripping
performances from these high calibre actors, helped by a magnificently
taut script from Henri Jeanson, are what make
Marie-Octobre
one of Duvivier's most arresting and disturbing films. The sheer elegance
of the director's mise-en-scène, accentuated by some atmospheric lighting,
prevents the film from looking merely like a piece of filmed theatre. If
the film's all-too-predictable conclusion comes as a shock, that is
probably because we lack Duvivier's grim insights into the human condition.
© James Travers 2008
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Next Julien Duvivier film:
Boulevard (1960)
Film Synopsis
Marie-Hélène Dumoufin, formerly known as Marie-Octobre, hosts
a party at her house with the aim of concluding some unfinished business.
It has been fifteen years since Marie-Hélène served in the
French Resistance, along with her ten houseguests, but in that time no one
has yet been able to uncover the identity of the traitor who killed their
leader and caused the break-up of their group on the eve of the Liberation.
The purpose of Marie-Hélène's soiree is to identify the traitor,
through the shared testimony of the odd assortment of guests, who include
a butcher, a priest, a lawyer, a printer and a nightclub owner. The
hostess is herself a suspect, as is her faithful domestic, Victorine.
Once the traitor has been revealed, Marie-Hélène intends that
justice should run its course, with a long overdue execution...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.