It's amazing that Joan Bennett, Robert Ryan and Charles Bickford are able to hold interest in this muddled melodrama even though the script is far from believable, the situations are trite and the ending is unsatisfactory.
The story plods along with occasional bursts of melodrama that seem forced and unreal because the script is so banal. Ryan is attracted to Bennett, whose blind husband (Bickford) seems to welcome him as a friend. She gradually falls in love with Ryan while distancing herself emotionally from Bickford with whom she has a love/hate/guilt relationship over being responsible for him losing his sight.
Jean Renoir's direction with the players is uneven because none of the characters are sharply defined. Nevertheless, Ryan and Bennett do the best they can with characters not motivated properly and Bickford acquits himself well as the bitter artist whose works keep him living in the past.
None of the elements make the story palatable or even believable. What a waste of time and talent.
The story plods along with occasional bursts of melodrama that seem forced and unreal because the script is so banal. Ryan is attracted to Bennett, whose blind husband (Bickford) seems to welcome him as a friend. She gradually falls in love with Ryan while distancing herself emotionally from Bickford with whom she has a love/hate/guilt relationship over being responsible for him losing his sight.
Jean Renoir's direction with the players is uneven because none of the characters are sharply defined. Nevertheless, Ryan and Bennett do the best they can with characters not motivated properly and Bickford acquits himself well as the bitter artist whose works keep him living in the past.
None of the elements make the story palatable or even believable. What a waste of time and talent.