Finding Panique and L'affaire Maurizius to be the last movies by auteur Julien Duvivier that I had on disc waiting to get viewed,I decided to watch Panique due to it being the shortest of the two.About 10 minutes in,I was shocked to find,that unlike all the other Duvivier,the subtitles appeared to be half finished,with vast lines of dialogue being left subs free.Originally planning to make Henri-Georges Clouzot's 1960 movie The Truth for the 100th viewing in my French film fest,I was thrilled to stumble on a fan edition of Duvivier's title with "complete" subtitles,which led to me getting ready to go in a panic over panique.
The plot:
Taking the jail time for her boyfriend,Alice and Alfred Chartier reunite.Whilst Alice was away,Chartier moved to a small town so that they could be somewhere where no one would have any suspicions about them. During Alice's jail time,Chartier got into a relationship with a long-term single women in the town.Finding the women less than willing to pass him cash,Chartier brutally kills her.As talk about the killing spreads round the town,loner Monsieur Hire starts to get ready to show the evidence he has of Chartier doing the murder. Suspecting from the vibes of a fortune teller the Hire knows something,Chartier and Alice set their sights on making Hire believe that his fortunes have changed.
View on the film:
Returning to France after doing work in the US,co-writer/(along with Charles Spaak) director Julien Duvivier looks at the fresh Film Noir wounds of post-WWII France. Bringing a touch of horror back with him, Duvivier & cinematographer Nicolas Hayer hang a smoked Gothic Horror atmosphere on the decayed Film Noir shadows,set alight by Duvivier circling the towns people after Hire (who is Jewish) like the villagers in a Gothic Horror going to burn the castle down,as the "monster" Hire falls to Noir doom. Lighting Alfred Chartier up like a demonic china doll during a confrontation with Hire, Duvivier whips up a cracking Film Noir mood bursting with dazzling whip-pans listening on the villagers tales and elegantly standing in the shadows to taste the venomous relationship between Chartier and Alice.
Coming back to his home screen with an adaptation of Georges Simenon's book,the screenplay by Spaak and Duvivier expertly dissect the ripples from the fears during the Occupation with the bleak,burning heart of the Film Noir. Keeping Hire away from the town in his house/castle,the writers send the rumours about Hire around the town like wildfire,a place where privacy is exchanged for "informers" sharing details about "odd" characters in the town,and the collective mind set of the town behaves like a law unto itself. Bringing the viper lovers back together,the writers deliciously make each of them as bad as each other,from Chartier casually talking about murder and snapping people back in their place,to Femme Fatale Alice ruthlessly taking advantage of other peoples loves and weaknesses.
Standing tall as the Film Noir shadows clasp round him, Michel Simon gives an incredible performance as Hire,whose clinical mind is set with Simon's expressiveness,that is met with an overwhelming passion for a Femme Fatale,who Hire's mind is all too aware of possess a scorpion sting. Attempting to not bring attention to himself, Paul Bernard gives a brilliant performance as Chartier,via Chartier's wry smirk being used by Bernard to barely contain the darkness under his mask. Curling up beside Chartier and Hire,the beautiful Viviane Romance gives an utterly chilling performance as Alice,thanks to Romance splendidly twisting Alice from looking like a sweet nurtured gal to an unrelentingly vicious Femme Fatale,as panique sets in.
The plot:
Taking the jail time for her boyfriend,Alice and Alfred Chartier reunite.Whilst Alice was away,Chartier moved to a small town so that they could be somewhere where no one would have any suspicions about them. During Alice's jail time,Chartier got into a relationship with a long-term single women in the town.Finding the women less than willing to pass him cash,Chartier brutally kills her.As talk about the killing spreads round the town,loner Monsieur Hire starts to get ready to show the evidence he has of Chartier doing the murder. Suspecting from the vibes of a fortune teller the Hire knows something,Chartier and Alice set their sights on making Hire believe that his fortunes have changed.
View on the film:
Returning to France after doing work in the US,co-writer/(along with Charles Spaak) director Julien Duvivier looks at the fresh Film Noir wounds of post-WWII France. Bringing a touch of horror back with him, Duvivier & cinematographer Nicolas Hayer hang a smoked Gothic Horror atmosphere on the decayed Film Noir shadows,set alight by Duvivier circling the towns people after Hire (who is Jewish) like the villagers in a Gothic Horror going to burn the castle down,as the "monster" Hire falls to Noir doom. Lighting Alfred Chartier up like a demonic china doll during a confrontation with Hire, Duvivier whips up a cracking Film Noir mood bursting with dazzling whip-pans listening on the villagers tales and elegantly standing in the shadows to taste the venomous relationship between Chartier and Alice.
Coming back to his home screen with an adaptation of Georges Simenon's book,the screenplay by Spaak and Duvivier expertly dissect the ripples from the fears during the Occupation with the bleak,burning heart of the Film Noir. Keeping Hire away from the town in his house/castle,the writers send the rumours about Hire around the town like wildfire,a place where privacy is exchanged for "informers" sharing details about "odd" characters in the town,and the collective mind set of the town behaves like a law unto itself. Bringing the viper lovers back together,the writers deliciously make each of them as bad as each other,from Chartier casually talking about murder and snapping people back in their place,to Femme Fatale Alice ruthlessly taking advantage of other peoples loves and weaknesses.
Standing tall as the Film Noir shadows clasp round him, Michel Simon gives an incredible performance as Hire,whose clinical mind is set with Simon's expressiveness,that is met with an overwhelming passion for a Femme Fatale,who Hire's mind is all too aware of possess a scorpion sting. Attempting to not bring attention to himself, Paul Bernard gives a brilliant performance as Chartier,via Chartier's wry smirk being used by Bernard to barely contain the darkness under his mask. Curling up beside Chartier and Hire,the beautiful Viviane Romance gives an utterly chilling performance as Alice,thanks to Romance splendidly twisting Alice from looking like a sweet nurtured gal to an unrelentingly vicious Femme Fatale,as panique sets in.