Pétrus (1946)
Directed by Marc Allégret

Film Review

An excellent cast (which includes some of the biggest French actors of the day) elevates this humdrum melodrama to something that just about passes for entertainment.  Marc Allégret's direction is competent but hardly inspired, and Marcel Achard's screen adaptation of his own stage play is flat and unevenly paced.  Fortunately, some pleasing performances from the lead actors save the day. 

Brasseur makes a convincing Don Juan, as smooth as a chocolate milkshake, and only slightly less sick-making.  Simone Simon is an obvious casting choice for the part of the lovelorn ingénue; the actress had only recently returned to France after her spell in Hollywood, taking a walk on the wild side with such films as Cat People (1942).  In one of his early dramatic roles, Fernandel demonstrates that he can play more than just vaudevillian parts in low budget comedies, allowing him to win more challenging roles in the years that followed.

Film Synopsis

Migo, an attractive dancer at a popular nightclub in Montmartre, has had enough of her two-timing boyfriend Rodrigue.  So, one evening, she takes out her gun and fires two shots at the cheating louse.  Naturally she misses her intended target and instead ends up wounding an innocent bystander, a man named Pétrus.  Being a gentleman, Pétrus has no intention of reporting the incident to the authorities, but to ensure he keeps his silence Rodrigue slips him a wad of banknotes, which happen to be forged.  Pétrus soon discovers that he is in love with Migo but he knows that she can never love him, so he contents himself with buying her happiness.  Realising that Rodrigue is the only man that Migo can ever love, Pétrus attempts to bribe him into carrying on his love affair with her.   Eager to get his money back, Rodrigue agrees, even though he is planning to elope with another woman...