☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Le
Jour Se Leve (1939) – M. Carne
One of the touchstones for Jean Gabin’s
mystique – cool, yes, but also violent and doomed. Of course, in 1939, all of France felt
doomed, so this image resonated.
Director Marcel Carne (who was later maligned, possibly injustly, as a
collaborator) brings poetic realist touches to an otherwise straightforward
boy-meets-girl-who-is-infatuated-with-a-sleazy-older-guy narrative. The flashback structure, wherein Gabin
remembers the events that led him to murder Jules Berry (remembering while
holed up in his apartment with the police at the door), is handled well, more
like a dream than reality. Arletty is
excellent as Berry’s ex-lover and Gabin’s fling (but not the object of his
amour): cynical and jaded and
disappointed. The ending (doom arrives) caught me by surprise somehow – this is
one that I will look forward to watching again to better perceive its true
arc.
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