"If there is a black sheep in the flock, you slaughter it."
In a small town in France, an erudite loner (Michel Simon) photographs the downtrodden in life and enjoys the finer things, like a nice cut of bloody meat from the local butcher. He's a visitor to the town who's decided to stay for three years, but most of the townsfolk dislike him, with one neighbor telling her daughter to stay away from him. Meanwhile, a crook (Max Dalban) is surprised when his lover (the radiant Viviane Romance) shows up earlier than he'd expected. She had been in prison, you see, serving time for a crime he committed. The town is then stirred up by the discovery that a woman has been murdered in a vacant lot, setting in motion an investigation that is soon derailed by a mob's mentality that isn't all that interested in a careful examination of the facts. Further tension comes from a love triangle formed between the three principals; the outsider has become smitten with the young woman after seeing her in her lingerie ala Rear Window.
There's a lot to love about this film - the story is tight, its black & white cinematography is wonderful, and the message of the danger of a mob, which is so easily fooled by a little misdirection, is on point. Viviane Romance is fantastic here, flirting with her lover, recounting her time behind bars while lying in his arms after sex, and quietly becoming aghast when he confesses his latest crime. It's not clear where her motivations are going to go from there, and the degree to which she's conflicted is played perfectly by Romance. In one scene where she's sitting at face to crotch level, she works her charms on the outsider by briefly showing a nipple and hiking her skirt up her thigh. There are certainly noir overtones to her character and the feel of the film, and a level of suspense on a par with Hitchcock. I also loved the little details from the carnival, like the bumper car footage which foreshadows the town's cruelty to the outsider, and the crassness of the women's wrestling match ("The real deal! No fake boobs! No false calves!").
What takes the film to the next level, however, is its context. It's not important to the story but adds considerable depth to its meaning to know that the character of the loner is Jewish (his last name is revealed to be Hirovitch), and that the story was written at a time when the French were collaborating with their Nazi occupiers. What happens to him is chilling regardless, but it's also laced with this biting commentary about French complicity, and of course, about humanity at large. It's just great stuff from Julien Duvivier - and I loved his final bit of irony, the singer who croons "One day, maybe all of mankind shall walk united, hand in hand, love, love, the beauty of the world" after we've seen his real views.
In a small town in France, an erudite loner (Michel Simon) photographs the downtrodden in life and enjoys the finer things, like a nice cut of bloody meat from the local butcher. He's a visitor to the town who's decided to stay for three years, but most of the townsfolk dislike him, with one neighbor telling her daughter to stay away from him. Meanwhile, a crook (Max Dalban) is surprised when his lover (the radiant Viviane Romance) shows up earlier than he'd expected. She had been in prison, you see, serving time for a crime he committed. The town is then stirred up by the discovery that a woman has been murdered in a vacant lot, setting in motion an investigation that is soon derailed by a mob's mentality that isn't all that interested in a careful examination of the facts. Further tension comes from a love triangle formed between the three principals; the outsider has become smitten with the young woman after seeing her in her lingerie ala Rear Window.
There's a lot to love about this film - the story is tight, its black & white cinematography is wonderful, and the message of the danger of a mob, which is so easily fooled by a little misdirection, is on point. Viviane Romance is fantastic here, flirting with her lover, recounting her time behind bars while lying in his arms after sex, and quietly becoming aghast when he confesses his latest crime. It's not clear where her motivations are going to go from there, and the degree to which she's conflicted is played perfectly by Romance. In one scene where she's sitting at face to crotch level, she works her charms on the outsider by briefly showing a nipple and hiking her skirt up her thigh. There are certainly noir overtones to her character and the feel of the film, and a level of suspense on a par with Hitchcock. I also loved the little details from the carnival, like the bumper car footage which foreshadows the town's cruelty to the outsider, and the crassness of the women's wrestling match ("The real deal! No fake boobs! No false calves!").
What takes the film to the next level, however, is its context. It's not important to the story but adds considerable depth to its meaning to know that the character of the loner is Jewish (his last name is revealed to be Hirovitch), and that the story was written at a time when the French were collaborating with their Nazi occupiers. What happens to him is chilling regardless, but it's also laced with this biting commentary about French complicity, and of course, about humanity at large. It's just great stuff from Julien Duvivier - and I loved his final bit of irony, the singer who croons "One day, maybe all of mankind shall walk united, hand in hand, love, love, the beauty of the world" after we've seen his real views.