When you post as many comments on this site as I do the Law of Averages dictates that you receive a certain amount of feedback in the form of PMs and I guess I've had my share both pro and con. A little over a year ago I posted a comment on a French film made during the war and largely forgotten certainly outside France. Shortly after it appeared a received a PM from a French guy who was very pleased that someone had mentioned this film. Since that time we corresponded spasmodically then out of the blue he wrote and asked if I would like him to tape any French films from French TV and if so which. Naturally I jumped at the chance and asked for anything directed by Henri Decoin, Julian Duvivier, Claude Autant-Lara and anything written by Jean Aurenche, Pierre Bost, Charles Spaak, Henri Jeanson and Jacques Prevert and the upshot is I have just received several great French movies including this late masterpiece by Julian Duvivier. I won't reveal the guy's name lest he is inundated with those both anxious and willing to trespass on his kindness but I am delighted to use this forum to record what positives can come from IMDb which has, alas, many things wrong with it. Now for the movie. There are those who may find it referential - Gabin's mother runs a dance hall on the banks of the Marne and a decade earlier Gabin himself as one of Duvivier's Belle Equipe built a similar establishment in a similar location; In Rene Clair's Le Silence est d'Or a young girl prevailed on an older man to take her in and here Daniel Delorme prevails on the older Gabin in much the same way - but not to its detriment. Gabin runs a restaurant in Les Halles, the wonderful market in Paris which has gone the way of London's Covent Garden but which was very much alive in 1956 when this film was made, he's a genial sort, always ready to see the good in people rather than the worst so when Delorme, the daughter of his estranged wife, turns up claiming orphan status he is happy to take her in despite the fact that he has an adoptive son already. Of course the mother is not really dead and Delorme is not half so naive or angelic as she lets on; we get our first glimpse of her darker/colder side when she coolly rejects an old lover and watches dispassionately as he throws himself under a camion, barely registering the impact before hurrying to a rendezvous with her very much alive and drink and drug-raddled mother where they fine tune plans to seduce Gabin and divvy up his money. The black and white photography complements the story perfectly and reminds us at times of that other classic Les Diaboliques and there are some lovely touches like Gabin's mother's mastery of a whip which she uses with equal dexterity for despatching chickens and chastising Delorme. In short this is one of the finest films that ever got right up Truffaut's nose and if only he'd tried to make something one tenth as good instead of slagging off these films we'd all have been a lot happier. Not to be missed.
18 Reviews
The female of the species.......
brogmiller19 January 2020
From the opening shot of Daniele Delorme as Catherine walking across Les Halles this film takes hold and never loosens its grip. Superbly structured and beautifully paced it builds to a terrifying although somewhat melodramatic finale.
This has to be one of Jean Gabin's greatest roles as he does not so much act the part of Andre as inhabit it. The change in this easy-going, good-natured man as he realises that he has been duped and deceived is highly effective.
One usually cringes at the titles given to European films for the American market but here Kipling's words 'Deadlier than the Male' are decidedly apt. Lucienne Bogaert, Germaine Kerjean and Gabrielle Fontan play their monstrous characters with relish whilst Daniele Delorme as the 'femme fatale' is stupendous in what would seem, on paper, an extremely difficult role. Her portrayal reminds one of Shakespeare's phrase 'There is no art to find the mind's construction in the face'.
The diverse characters in and around the restaurant are wonderfully drawn.
Shot by the legendary Armand Thirard and edited by one of director Duvivier's regular collaborators Marthe Poncin, this is film noir of the highest quality.
Even the best directors alas have only so many great films in them and although we have good ones like 'Henriette' and 'Marie-Octobre' from Julien Duvivier still to come, the film under review is sadly the last of his very best.
Disappointing to see that Cesar the canine chum who plays such a vital role in this film, is uncredited. Oh well, that's showbusiness!
Beats Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares into a cheese omelette
joachimokeefe13 October 2022
A thoroughly character-based thriller, so there's somewhat of a slow build-up to the bit where everybody gets dessert. In the meantime, a beautifully staged, photographed, acted and directed movie that even has an intrepid dog in it. The dénouement does feel a little deflated, like an unfortunate soufflé.
Jean Gabin, French national treasure, is a renowned chef/patron André Chatelin (a 'Traiteur') in his 50s in the long-lost Les Halles area of central (ventral?) Paris. Watching this movie wouldn't be a bad way of starting in the catering trade, then restaurant scenes are so authentic.
When his ex-wife (Gabrielle)'s gorgeous daughter (possibly the reason for the divorce) turns up telling him Gabrielle is dead and she (Catherine) is destitute, good-natured André is drawn into a plot to murder him and inherit his money. The way that Catherine succeeds in tying up everyone in her web of lies, while remaining the supposed victim, is extremely well depicted and suspenseful.
The said dénouement, heavily involving César the shaggy dog of the young, duped medical student Gerard Delacroix, is a little anticlimactic, but the journey is filled with stunningly good scenes, characters and dialogue.
Jean Gabin, French national treasure, is a renowned chef/patron André Chatelin (a 'Traiteur') in his 50s in the long-lost Les Halles area of central (ventral?) Paris. Watching this movie wouldn't be a bad way of starting in the catering trade, then restaurant scenes are so authentic.
When his ex-wife (Gabrielle)'s gorgeous daughter (possibly the reason for the divorce) turns up telling him Gabrielle is dead and she (Catherine) is destitute, good-natured André is drawn into a plot to murder him and inherit his money. The way that Catherine succeeds in tying up everyone in her web of lies, while remaining the supposed victim, is extremely well depicted and suspenseful.
The said dénouement, heavily involving César the shaggy dog of the young, duped medical student Gerard Delacroix, is a little anticlimactic, but the journey is filled with stunningly good scenes, characters and dialogue.
Film noir extraordinaire!
dbdumonteil2 August 2005
This Duvivier gem is the definitive proof that the FRench cinema was not moribund in the late fifties.Julien Duvivier,the master of the film noir French style ("Pepe le Moko" was a strong influence on the American film noir),outdoes himself and gives his last masterpiece ."Voici le temps des assassins " outdistances all former works ,it's really the apex of evil.
Danielle Delorme 's character is one of the most perverse you can see on a screen:she almost makes us forget Jean Simmons in "Angel Face" .This girl is perversity flesh on the bone.Is she a victim (of her education? her sad background?)Delorme told in an interview that her part was "much too much",that she probably had excuses,that she probably suffered during her childhood: terse answer by the director:"evil people are evil,period." Duvivier's world is thoroughly noir:the three old women who are featured in the movie are evil too.
Germaine Kerjean's character is even more terrifying than the false ingenue :not only she probably broke her son's marriage (Gabin) but she has also continued to dominate him.When Gabin introduces her to Catherine,she simply says with a threatening smile :"she has a chilling way about her" ;actually this reply turns the audience 's heart into ice.this old shrew is sadistic to a fault:you should see her behead her chickens in her guinguette (cafe where you dance on the banks of the Seine)!You should see her thrash her daughter-in-law,yelling,when the whip comes down :"that will knock you into shape!!" Catherine's mother(Lucienne Bogaert) is a slut,the ugliest woman you have ever met,destroyed by alcohol and drugs .She epitomizes decay.She urges her daughter to kill her husband -who was also his twenty years ago-,and the way she plans the murder,lavishly detailed ,makes your flesh creep.
And there is Gabin's housekeeper (Gabrielle Fontan),a hypocrite spinster who never found love and thus is jealous of Catherine,who is young and beautiful.she moves in the house like a snake ,always on the look-out for some gossips about Catherine,the intruder.
The action takes place in three places: 1)Gabin's restaurant in Les Halles,now a thing of the past,where the scenarists take a slap at the Americans -who are far from being gourmets- and the dogs (there's humor in this somber story).
2)Catherine's junkie mother's room ,in a seedy house near decay,where she spins her web.
3)Her mother-in-law's guinguette,turned into a living hell by the owner.
The characters move from one place to another,as an almost unbearable tension rises and takes all the characters in a bloody violent final by the misty banks of a glittering Seine.
This movie contains scenes that will leave you at the edge of your seat,even 50 years after:Kerjean,whipping with an intense pleasure;Gerard's (Gerard Blain) murder in the night down by the Seine;His dog,barking at a scared to death Catherine.Sincerely,I've seen lots and lots of FRench movies,but few (if any) come close to this one when it comes to depicting wickedness ,greed and perversity.
Once dismissed as "pre nouvelle vague trash" "voici le temps des assassins -looked upon as a masterpiece by Bertrand Tavernier,one of the masters of the contemporary French cinema - has since been restored to favor by a whole generation of viewers (its IMDb rating is currently 7,6!Thanks to the users!)and critics (Jacques Lourcelles notably).
Claude Chabrol and Bertrand Tavernier love this film.
Watch "Voici le temps des assassins" at all costs!!!!
Danielle Delorme 's character is one of the most perverse you can see on a screen:she almost makes us forget Jean Simmons in "Angel Face" .This girl is perversity flesh on the bone.Is she a victim (of her education? her sad background?)Delorme told in an interview that her part was "much too much",that she probably had excuses,that she probably suffered during her childhood: terse answer by the director:"evil people are evil,period." Duvivier's world is thoroughly noir:the three old women who are featured in the movie are evil too.
Germaine Kerjean's character is even more terrifying than the false ingenue :not only she probably broke her son's marriage (Gabin) but she has also continued to dominate him.When Gabin introduces her to Catherine,she simply says with a threatening smile :"she has a chilling way about her" ;actually this reply turns the audience 's heart into ice.this old shrew is sadistic to a fault:you should see her behead her chickens in her guinguette (cafe where you dance on the banks of the Seine)!You should see her thrash her daughter-in-law,yelling,when the whip comes down :"that will knock you into shape!!" Catherine's mother(Lucienne Bogaert) is a slut,the ugliest woman you have ever met,destroyed by alcohol and drugs .She epitomizes decay.She urges her daughter to kill her husband -who was also his twenty years ago-,and the way she plans the murder,lavishly detailed ,makes your flesh creep.
And there is Gabin's housekeeper (Gabrielle Fontan),a hypocrite spinster who never found love and thus is jealous of Catherine,who is young and beautiful.she moves in the house like a snake ,always on the look-out for some gossips about Catherine,the intruder.
The action takes place in three places: 1)Gabin's restaurant in Les Halles,now a thing of the past,where the scenarists take a slap at the Americans -who are far from being gourmets- and the dogs (there's humor in this somber story).
2)Catherine's junkie mother's room ,in a seedy house near decay,where she spins her web.
3)Her mother-in-law's guinguette,turned into a living hell by the owner.
The characters move from one place to another,as an almost unbearable tension rises and takes all the characters in a bloody violent final by the misty banks of a glittering Seine.
This movie contains scenes that will leave you at the edge of your seat,even 50 years after:Kerjean,whipping with an intense pleasure;Gerard's (Gerard Blain) murder in the night down by the Seine;His dog,barking at a scared to death Catherine.Sincerely,I've seen lots and lots of FRench movies,but few (if any) come close to this one when it comes to depicting wickedness ,greed and perversity.
Once dismissed as "pre nouvelle vague trash" "voici le temps des assassins -looked upon as a masterpiece by Bertrand Tavernier,one of the masters of the contemporary French cinema - has since been restored to favor by a whole generation of viewers (its IMDb rating is currently 7,6!Thanks to the users!)and critics (Jacques Lourcelles notably).
Claude Chabrol and Bertrand Tavernier love this film.
Watch "Voici le temps des assassins" at all costs!!!!
Justice is finally meted out by a dog! Verging on horror !
nicholas.rhodes8 September 2004
Warning: Spoilers
This film, remastered and released in France June 1st, 2016 on Blu- ray + DVD by Pathé with a choice of English or French Subtitles is a very good all-rounder cinematographically speaking. First we have the wailing theme song sung by Germaine Montero accompanied by a shivery solo accordion. The picture quality, though black and white, is excellent and the sets themselves are the epitome, for the Paris region at least, of French popular culture.
First and foremost we have a long disappeared part of Paris, the Halles market, called "le ventre de Paris" or the belly of Paris due to its being the source of nourishment for most of the Parisians. The atmosphere of this area is extremely well rendered and we see various characters typical of the day, and notably a few "forts" or strong men, so called because they used to lug around day in and day out huge carcasses of meat upon their shoulders. Many years ago, Les Halles was transferred out of Paris to Rungis in the suburbs and the gaping hole that was left after the removal of the four "pavillons" or market buildings has today been filled with a shopping mall called the "Forum des Halles" but which has little to do with the original market building. One of the original pavillons was saved and re-erected at Nogent-sur-Marne in the suburbs, not far from the Marne river and is used for dances and other meetings.
The second aspect of parisian culture is the guingette or dance Hall on the banks of the Marne river owned by Gabin's mother. It is set quite a way out at Lagny-sur-Marne. We see various characters of the time and hear the accordion music to which millions danced the "java", "valse musette" and other typically parisian popular dances.
The third aspect is the seedy room in the Hôtel du Charolais in which lives the supposedly deceased mother of Danièle Delorme and where the final horror takes place.
The film was made by Julien Duvivier ( cf La Belle Equipe ) who was a master of a certain type of french film called "film noir", a pessimistic type of film with a gloomy unpromising ending, what the French call "une fin sans concession".
The film is extremely well acted. Gabin is between two ages, not the young impetuous character from La Belle Equipe nor the older patriarch character from "La Horse" ou "Le Clan des Siciliens". I think he is supposed to be in his mid fifties, perhaps as he was in real life and comes over EXCELLENTLY as a restaurant owner. Delorme, who had an angelic face but an evil character beyond all imagination turns up as the daughter of his estranged wife saying her mother is dead and asking Gabin to look after her. All this is a devilish plot fomented between her and her mother, who is still alive, to marry Gabin for his money and then dispose of him. Gabin is so good-natured that he doesn't see this at first and takes Delorme at face value to the point of even turning against his own adoptive sun. Delorme is extremely evil to the point of playing one off against the other - when you see her at it you want to wring her neck ! - but a certain number of fateful slip-ups will be made along the way and she will come a cropper in conformity with the outcome of this 'film noir". She not only precipitates one of her former lovers to his death but also kills Gabin's adopted sun with a coldness which can only be described as totally psychotic !!
Although Delorme and her mother are evil, they are not alone. Gabin's mother, who runs the guingette in Lagny is a cold domineering character who has an inventive way of killing chickens - with a whiplash - quite a nifty idea on the part of Duvivier I thought - and this same whiplash is used to good effect on Delorme at one moment in the film.
There is also a servant woman, extremely ugly and shrivelled-up who is poking her nose into everyone else's affairs. All this goes to show that, bar Gabin and his adoptive son, most of the other characters in the film are real scum and the spectator can have no sympathy with them at all. It's just a shame to see someone as nice as Gabin being taken in.
The final justice is meted out to Delorme not by Gabin as we might expect but by the dog belonging to his murdered son who no doubt "smelled" out his killer. An excellent way of getting Gabin off the hook, and in fact causing more panic in Delorme's eyes than if she had been threatened by a man !
I have no idea whether the film is known outside France ( like Les Diaboliques ) but it certainly merits the attention of anyone who is interested in good French cinema of the "Film Noir" type. More than that it is a living documentary of Paris in 1959 and is a must for those across the world who love that city !
First and foremost we have a long disappeared part of Paris, the Halles market, called "le ventre de Paris" or the belly of Paris due to its being the source of nourishment for most of the Parisians. The atmosphere of this area is extremely well rendered and we see various characters typical of the day, and notably a few "forts" or strong men, so called because they used to lug around day in and day out huge carcasses of meat upon their shoulders. Many years ago, Les Halles was transferred out of Paris to Rungis in the suburbs and the gaping hole that was left after the removal of the four "pavillons" or market buildings has today been filled with a shopping mall called the "Forum des Halles" but which has little to do with the original market building. One of the original pavillons was saved and re-erected at Nogent-sur-Marne in the suburbs, not far from the Marne river and is used for dances and other meetings.
The second aspect of parisian culture is the guingette or dance Hall on the banks of the Marne river owned by Gabin's mother. It is set quite a way out at Lagny-sur-Marne. We see various characters of the time and hear the accordion music to which millions danced the "java", "valse musette" and other typically parisian popular dances.
The third aspect is the seedy room in the Hôtel du Charolais in which lives the supposedly deceased mother of Danièle Delorme and where the final horror takes place.
The film was made by Julien Duvivier ( cf La Belle Equipe ) who was a master of a certain type of french film called "film noir", a pessimistic type of film with a gloomy unpromising ending, what the French call "une fin sans concession".
The film is extremely well acted. Gabin is between two ages, not the young impetuous character from La Belle Equipe nor the older patriarch character from "La Horse" ou "Le Clan des Siciliens". I think he is supposed to be in his mid fifties, perhaps as he was in real life and comes over EXCELLENTLY as a restaurant owner. Delorme, who had an angelic face but an evil character beyond all imagination turns up as the daughter of his estranged wife saying her mother is dead and asking Gabin to look after her. All this is a devilish plot fomented between her and her mother, who is still alive, to marry Gabin for his money and then dispose of him. Gabin is so good-natured that he doesn't see this at first and takes Delorme at face value to the point of even turning against his own adoptive sun. Delorme is extremely evil to the point of playing one off against the other - when you see her at it you want to wring her neck ! - but a certain number of fateful slip-ups will be made along the way and she will come a cropper in conformity with the outcome of this 'film noir". She not only precipitates one of her former lovers to his death but also kills Gabin's adopted sun with a coldness which can only be described as totally psychotic !!
Although Delorme and her mother are evil, they are not alone. Gabin's mother, who runs the guingette in Lagny is a cold domineering character who has an inventive way of killing chickens - with a whiplash - quite a nifty idea on the part of Duvivier I thought - and this same whiplash is used to good effect on Delorme at one moment in the film.
There is also a servant woman, extremely ugly and shrivelled-up who is poking her nose into everyone else's affairs. All this goes to show that, bar Gabin and his adoptive son, most of the other characters in the film are real scum and the spectator can have no sympathy with them at all. It's just a shame to see someone as nice as Gabin being taken in.
The final justice is meted out to Delorme not by Gabin as we might expect but by the dog belonging to his murdered son who no doubt "smelled" out his killer. An excellent way of getting Gabin off the hook, and in fact causing more panic in Delorme's eyes than if she had been threatened by a man !
I have no idea whether the film is known outside France ( like Les Diaboliques ) but it certainly merits the attention of anyone who is interested in good French cinema of the "Film Noir" type. More than that it is a living documentary of Paris in 1959 and is a must for those across the world who love that city !
I can't believe...
didierfort5 August 2013
No, I can't believe that this film only get 3 users reviews, 419 voters, and not even one topic on its message board! It is one of the four immortal masterpieces —along with "Pépé le Moko", "La fin du jour" and "Panique"— of an immortal master, Julien Duvivier.
All in there is at the very top (and even the over-the-top is at the top!).
A clockwork scenario, the sharp dialogues, a cinematography like they knew how to make. And the best own's performances for Jean Gabin, Danièle Delorme, Lucienne Bogaert.
See it! Watch Duvivier's movies! Vive le cinéma!
Didier_fort at hotmail.com
All in there is at the very top (and even the over-the-top is at the top!).
A clockwork scenario, the sharp dialogues, a cinematography like they knew how to make. And the best own's performances for Jean Gabin, Danièle Delorme, Lucienne Bogaert.
See it! Watch Duvivier's movies! Vive le cinéma!
Didier_fort at hotmail.com
Delorme is only too convincing in her role
christopher-underwood6 March 2015
This opens in stunning fashion, with amazing panning shots of Paris' Les Halles in full and glorious flow in the 50s. Parisians must look now at London's Covent Garden development and wonder just what they did to their own central market. Back on screen, the fine sequences continue inside Jean Gabin's busy and successful restaurant, with great movement and sense of excitement. Both Gabin and Daniele Delorme are most effective as the narrative develops but it is a familiar tale and Delorme is only too convincing in her role to deceive just about everyone, seemingly for love but in reality, of course, for dosh. a surprising whipping scene and some scenes of real tension towards the end but this is french and overlong without too many surprises.
"Better a widow than a divorcée."
morrison-dylan-fan13 May 2017
Warning: Spoilers
With most of the family on holiday,I realised that I could catch-up on some long awaited viewings. Reading excellent comments on the title from fellow IMDber dbdumonteil,I decided to discover how much deadlier auteur Julien Duvivier could make things.
The plot:
Divorced from his wife Gabrielle for over 20 years, André Chatelin has poured his heart and soul into becoming the greatest chef in Paris,with even the President going for regular meals at Chatelin's café. Whilst clearing up,Catherine walks in. Not having seen Gabrielle's for over 20 years,Catherine reveals to Chatelin that she has recently died,and that she herself is Gabrielle's daughter. Bringing Catherine into the business, Chatelin starts finding Catherine placing romantic feelings on him. Whilst Chatelin takes everything at face value,Catherine starts cooking up a scheme that will reveal her to be deadlier than the male.
View on the film:
Opening with a crane shot sweeping up the streets of Paris, co- writer/(with Charles Dorat/Maurice Bessy and Pierre-Aristide Bréal) directing auteur Julien Duvivier & Henri-Georges Clouzot's regular cinematographer Armand Thirard pull the viewer into the dirty side streets with a glistening "evil under the flames" aura being cooked up in the kitchen between Chatelin and Catherine, which spills over in dazzling pre-French New Wave outdoor shooting,which gives Chatelin's battles for Catherine an on the spot urgency. Served in just under two hours, Duvivier grills his unique Film Noir style with a rich canvas of lingering murky shadows and transfixing tracking shots,which sway on the pessimism seeping into Chatelin's "image" of Catherine.
Giving the viewer the opportunity to taste Chatelin's Noir meals,the screenplay by Duvivier/Bessy and Bréal fully explore the relationships in brilliantly subtle gestures,via the almost- son/dad bond between Chatelin and Gérard Delacroix breaking down into Noir loners fighting in the streets,and Catherine's humble,pristine image being chipped away to unveil the heart of a Femme Fatale. Keeping her real hand out of sight,the writers smartly spend the first hour threading a bond between Catherine and Chatelin that shines with some glimpses of sincere love,which wilts away into the Noir tar that Catherine tries to keep out of Chatelin's sight.
Shimmering into Chatelin's kitchen, Danièle Delorme gives an exquisite performance as Catherine,whose Femme Fatale mind games are given an earthy veneer by Delorme that tug at the heart strings of Chatelin,and shake up the Angry Young Man tension within Gérard. Giving his exchanges with Gérard (played by a great Gérard Blain) a parental warmth,Jean Gabin gives an extraordinary performance as Chatelin. Constantly seeing the burnt embers of past romantic relationships,Gabin catches the youthful excitement that surrounds Chatelin in a new romance,but is unable to escape the Noir loner wriggling unease that Catherine has a hidden side that is about to steam up.
The plot:
Divorced from his wife Gabrielle for over 20 years, André Chatelin has poured his heart and soul into becoming the greatest chef in Paris,with even the President going for regular meals at Chatelin's café. Whilst clearing up,Catherine walks in. Not having seen Gabrielle's for over 20 years,Catherine reveals to Chatelin that she has recently died,and that she herself is Gabrielle's daughter. Bringing Catherine into the business, Chatelin starts finding Catherine placing romantic feelings on him. Whilst Chatelin takes everything at face value,Catherine starts cooking up a scheme that will reveal her to be deadlier than the male.
View on the film:
Opening with a crane shot sweeping up the streets of Paris, co- writer/(with Charles Dorat/Maurice Bessy and Pierre-Aristide Bréal) directing auteur Julien Duvivier & Henri-Georges Clouzot's regular cinematographer Armand Thirard pull the viewer into the dirty side streets with a glistening "evil under the flames" aura being cooked up in the kitchen between Chatelin and Catherine, which spills over in dazzling pre-French New Wave outdoor shooting,which gives Chatelin's battles for Catherine an on the spot urgency. Served in just under two hours, Duvivier grills his unique Film Noir style with a rich canvas of lingering murky shadows and transfixing tracking shots,which sway on the pessimism seeping into Chatelin's "image" of Catherine.
Giving the viewer the opportunity to taste Chatelin's Noir meals,the screenplay by Duvivier/Bessy and Bréal fully explore the relationships in brilliantly subtle gestures,via the almost- son/dad bond between Chatelin and Gérard Delacroix breaking down into Noir loners fighting in the streets,and Catherine's humble,pristine image being chipped away to unveil the heart of a Femme Fatale. Keeping her real hand out of sight,the writers smartly spend the first hour threading a bond between Catherine and Chatelin that shines with some glimpses of sincere love,which wilts away into the Noir tar that Catherine tries to keep out of Chatelin's sight.
Shimmering into Chatelin's kitchen, Danièle Delorme gives an exquisite performance as Catherine,whose Femme Fatale mind games are given an earthy veneer by Delorme that tug at the heart strings of Chatelin,and shake up the Angry Young Man tension within Gérard. Giving his exchanges with Gérard (played by a great Gérard Blain) a parental warmth,Jean Gabin gives an extraordinary performance as Chatelin. Constantly seeing the burnt embers of past romantic relationships,Gabin catches the youthful excitement that surrounds Chatelin in a new romance,but is unable to escape the Noir loner wriggling unease that Catherine has a hidden side that is about to steam up.
"Le coq au Chambertin revenu à l'huile d'olive..."
derzu_uzala8 August 2021
Warning: Spoilers
"... avec une mirepoix aillée au sang du coq, garniture de petits oignons glacés, de lardons, de champignons, fleurons en losange, accompagné de pommes rissolées persillées, farcies au foie gras du Périgord"
Such is Chef Chatelin's (Gabin) signature dish, which he proudly prepares for his newlywed young wife (Delorme), as a follow-up to a starter of "lightweight" quenelles, nothing less.
This stands as a good metaphor for the whole movie. Such a dish would have been a proud feature of a posh French restaurant 60 years ago, nowadays it is a dated relic, a stodgy hodge-podge of competently-assembled noble individual elements, which put together make for an rather uninteresting and indigestible whole.
Delorme plays a young-woman with an angel face, who soon reveals herself to be a cold-hearted, scheming monster. This was a familiar trope of the 1930s-40s movies, and a theme Duvivier used in previous works ("La belle équipe", "Panique"). By 1956 this was already a somewhat tired routine, and one cannot help feeling the movie is definitely misogynistic: all women are either mothers or monsters (or both).
The male characters do not fare much better: both leads (Gabin and Blain) are well-intentioned but exceedingly gullible. The customers of Chatelin's restaurants are not likable either, with a particular mention to the rich old guy who comes each time with a different, much younger and obviously venal, mistress - and to whom Chatelin unaccountably turns to when in need of matrimonial advice.
The movie nevertheless has its good moments: the scenes with the two mothers, each a horrible person in her own kind, who Duvivier portrays in gleeful manner (with her disheveled look and bulbous eyes, Lucienne Bogaert eerily evokes Andy Serkis' Gollum). There is also an interesting depiction of the now-vanished Paris les Halles district. And the acting is top-notch, Gabin still in top form, Delorme well-cast even if her dramatic range appears somewhat limited at times. Only Blain feels wooden, but his role is pretty one-dimensional.
All in all a watchable noir movie, but Duvivier did better in the past, and there is something stale about the movie's perspective on human relationships. Not because it's misanthropic, but because it's a petit-bourgeois kind of misanthropy.
This stands as a good metaphor for the whole movie. Such a dish would have been a proud feature of a posh French restaurant 60 years ago, nowadays it is a dated relic, a stodgy hodge-podge of competently-assembled noble individual elements, which put together make for an rather uninteresting and indigestible whole.
Delorme plays a young-woman with an angel face, who soon reveals herself to be a cold-hearted, scheming monster. This was a familiar trope of the 1930s-40s movies, and a theme Duvivier used in previous works ("La belle équipe", "Panique"). By 1956 this was already a somewhat tired routine, and one cannot help feeling the movie is definitely misogynistic: all women are either mothers or monsters (or both).
The male characters do not fare much better: both leads (Gabin and Blain) are well-intentioned but exceedingly gullible. The customers of Chatelin's restaurants are not likable either, with a particular mention to the rich old guy who comes each time with a different, much younger and obviously venal, mistress - and to whom Chatelin unaccountably turns to when in need of matrimonial advice.
The movie nevertheless has its good moments: the scenes with the two mothers, each a horrible person in her own kind, who Duvivier portrays in gleeful manner (with her disheveled look and bulbous eyes, Lucienne Bogaert eerily evokes Andy Serkis' Gollum). There is also an interesting depiction of the now-vanished Paris les Halles district. And the acting is top-notch, Gabin still in top form, Delorme well-cast even if her dramatic range appears somewhat limited at times. Only Blain feels wooden, but his role is pretty one-dimensional.
All in all a watchable noir movie, but Duvivier did better in the past, and there is something stale about the movie's perspective on human relationships. Not because it's misanthropic, but because it's a petit-bourgeois kind of misanthropy.
Masterpiece of French Film Noir
happytrigger-64-39051718 October 2017
Only 6 reviews for that pure Masterpiece of French Film Noir, direct in my top 5 ("Les Diaboliques" have 160 reviews and "Non Coupable" has only 2 reviews (?)(another pure masterpiece of French Film Noir with Michel Simon at his best, in my top 5 of course). Everything has been said by other bright reviewers, I just confirm you cannot forget that sick darkness of the characters. Impossible, printed forever in your mind.
Great film? No
bob99826 September 2020
Were it not for the final 15 unbelievable minutes, I could have given this one 9, because the direction is assured, and the cinematography by Armand Thirard is wonderfully evocative, both of Les Halles and the Seine riverbank. Gabin and Blain playing two men suckered by a woman give excellent performances, Lucienne Bogaert as the woman's junkie mother gives another in a long line of vicious performances (how I've loved to hate her over the years), and the woman herself, Daniele Delorme, playing the crazed daughter of Gabin and Bogaert manages to hold her emotions in check until those final unbelievable minutes.
I grew up watching Duvivier's films: Carnet de bal, Pepe le moko and La Bandera. I saw in them a mastery of detail and a way of working with actors that pleased me very much. His work in the 50's doesn't equal what he did then.
I grew up watching Duvivier's films: Carnet de bal, Pepe le moko and La Bandera. I saw in them a mastery of detail and a way of working with actors that pleased me very much. His work in the 50's doesn't equal what he did then.
No Fool Like An Old Fool
boblipton15 December 2022
Jean Gabin runs a great restaurant right by Les Halles, the central market of Paris. He's bluff, hardworking, and has taken under his wing Gérard Blain, a poor medical student who works at the market, whom he feeds regularly and takes with him to visit his mother, who runs an inn in the country. Danièle Delorme comes to him from Marseilles. She is the daughter of his ex-wife, who has just died. Gabin takes her in and treats her as a daughter, but comes to have different feelings for her. There's just one problem. Her mother isn't dead. She's a drug addict staying at a cheap hotel nearby, and has a plan for profit.
It's a tale of betrayal directed by Julien Duvivier, and with Gabin in the lead, it's watching both at the top of their forms. One of the strengths of Duvivier is his ability to convince you he is what he's playing on screen. As the chef and owner of the restaurant, he's always busy, cooking, dealing with the staff, tending to his customers, catching fish for a fry-up outside his mother's inn. Others get their moments, like Aimé Clariond as an old rake who keeps bringing young actresses to the restaurant, like a character out of a Clouzot film. In fact, it looks like Duvivier is trying to out-Clouzot Clouzot, and he does a fine job of it.
It's a tale of betrayal directed by Julien Duvivier, and with Gabin in the lead, it's watching both at the top of their forms. One of the strengths of Duvivier is his ability to convince you he is what he's playing on screen. As the chef and owner of the restaurant, he's always busy, cooking, dealing with the staff, tending to his customers, catching fish for a fry-up outside his mother's inn. Others get their moments, like Aimé Clariond as an old rake who keeps bringing young actresses to the restaurant, like a character out of a Clouzot film. In fact, it looks like Duvivier is trying to out-Clouzot Clouzot, and he does a fine job of it.
Well-done noir
gridoon202410 June 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Another fine noir from writer-director Julien Duvivier. Jean Gabin is dependable as always, but in large part this is Danièle Delorme's movie: she is fantastic (and curvaceous) as a manipuative femme fatale who can take care of business on her own; I was rooting for her even when I was not supposed to. Duvivier gives the film a vivid sense of the working environment in which Gabin operates (a gourmet restaurant), and punctuates it with eccentric little touches (like a female customer near the start who is briefly but strongly hinted to be lesbian). If there is one flaw, and I am trying to avoid outright spoilers here, it's that they needed to get a scarier dog to make the climax more credible. *** out of 4.
Voici
RaulFerreiraZem16 July 2019
Warning: Spoilers
The film is ok
the pacing is fine, there are really good scenes and Jean Gabin is great in this
However there are a few things that i find impossible to overlook such as the moralist overtone the film has as it shows absolutely no mercy or reedeming features in Catherine even though she has no fault in the way she was brought up and the circumstances in which she is forced to act the way she does, instead the movie apoligizes André's mother that harasses her employees, kidnaps and whips Catherine. Its like im watching an perfectly backwards adaptation of marquis de sade's Justine.
Besides that the one major plot flaw in my opinion was the fact that Gerárd always used to carry his dog around, that by itself warned me 30 minutes prior to the ending what would happen and made the movie significantly less believeable
The Angel face always comes without notice!!!
elo-equipamentos27 May 2019
After a long dark winter Jean Gabin comeback to work with Duvivier in this heavy Noir, a divorced Restaurant's owner living in a prosperous life in his high class business, when suddenly appears young daughter of his former wife, Gabin has a young friend who are in final medicine study to be a Doctor, Gabin suggest that both could be a lovely romantic pair, but the young woman will slowly manipulating all situation for your own benefit, seen that Gabin likes too much the prouder student, she acts on both sides, the monster show his sharp claws, so many lies, misleading and finally trying to murder, the heavy atmosphere caught everybody with so madness from this Angel face, the picture always was rejected by the moviegoers, somehow had many best reviews including from Truffaut and others, then the picture will survives and quickly became in a classic from Duvivier-Gabin, a near masterpiece in an old Paris Market, a little bit heavy for some taste, the narrow streets, old decaying area supply an perfect environment to develop such intricate story, just Noir genre allowed it to us!!
Resume:
First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 9.25
Resume:
First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 9.25
Superlative direction, character studies, photography: a masterpiece
adrianovasconcelos4 November 2020
Julien Duvivier and Jean-Pierre Melville are my favorite French film noir directors. Duvivier is in his best form ever in VOICI LE TEMPS DES ASSASSINS, a masterpiece from beginning to end.
It boasts one of Jean Gabin's finest performances ever - no mean accolade given that Gabin simply never acted badly, regardless of the quality of the film he appeared in. And he appeared in a fair number of duds.
In this case, he delivers a calm, nuanced performance reflecting the basic good nature of his character, always ready for a kindness to his staff, customers, and friends. He loves his mother and treats his old maid with respect, two women who have always looked out, and continue to look out for him. However, his genuinely benign nature belies a strong character. He is no pushover or fool. The subtle script trains the spotlight on a selfless, generous man who gradually loses his cool and changes as he finds more and more about his deceitful wife.
His first wife, whom he divorced but does not resent for taking him to the cleaners, is the mother of his second wife to be, Catherine, a young woman played by the beautiful yet facially plain Danielle Delorme - an interesting combination of contrasts that reflects Catherine's own inner contradictions, and capacity to change mood, lie and backstab others in the blink of an eye.
Delorme delivers an outstanding performance of psychotic complexity under the veneer of normality and bodily elegance. It is clear from the way she looks at Gabin and at his restaurant that she has a plan. That she is not the angelical soul she tries to convey comes across steadily, and is confirmed with her clever and opportunistic theft of a wad of notes from a customer.
There is nothing innocent about her purported innocence, and her laughing and crying reaction to Gérard murder is a sequence of genius and psychological insight reflecting Duvivier's sensitive understanding of the fact that Catherine is not just out and out evil, but is also capable of love.
Catherine ingratiates herself into Gabin's life with ulterior motives which are dropped piecemeal in the viewer's lap. The result is riveting film narrative.
Tough logic drives the highly credible and incisive script. B&W photography is exceptional. Fitting soundtrack, too, with great initial song by Germaine Montero.
There is not one weak acting performance in the film. Gérard Blain excels as Gabin's loyal but misunderstood and tragically misrepresented best chum. Gabrielle Fontan as Gabin's sharp-eyed and whip expert mother, and Lucienne Bogaert as Delorme's drugged mother also deserve the highest plaudits.
Perhaps César could have been a meaner-looking dog. I accept that but César too has an exterior that belies his inner personality. That fun and loving exterior conceals a basic loyalty toward his beloved owner, himself an example of loyalty. The scene where César lies next to Blain's covered corpse is deeply touching and it provides the logical ramp for his final, revengeful attack. The beast is capable of far nobler feelings than the modern-looking, cunning, and apparently civilized Catherine, the trademark femme fatale.
Must-see film noir. 10/10
It boasts one of Jean Gabin's finest performances ever - no mean accolade given that Gabin simply never acted badly, regardless of the quality of the film he appeared in. And he appeared in a fair number of duds.
In this case, he delivers a calm, nuanced performance reflecting the basic good nature of his character, always ready for a kindness to his staff, customers, and friends. He loves his mother and treats his old maid with respect, two women who have always looked out, and continue to look out for him. However, his genuinely benign nature belies a strong character. He is no pushover or fool. The subtle script trains the spotlight on a selfless, generous man who gradually loses his cool and changes as he finds more and more about his deceitful wife.
His first wife, whom he divorced but does not resent for taking him to the cleaners, is the mother of his second wife to be, Catherine, a young woman played by the beautiful yet facially plain Danielle Delorme - an interesting combination of contrasts that reflects Catherine's own inner contradictions, and capacity to change mood, lie and backstab others in the blink of an eye.
Delorme delivers an outstanding performance of psychotic complexity under the veneer of normality and bodily elegance. It is clear from the way she looks at Gabin and at his restaurant that she has a plan. That she is not the angelical soul she tries to convey comes across steadily, and is confirmed with her clever and opportunistic theft of a wad of notes from a customer.
There is nothing innocent about her purported innocence, and her laughing and crying reaction to Gérard murder is a sequence of genius and psychological insight reflecting Duvivier's sensitive understanding of the fact that Catherine is not just out and out evil, but is also capable of love.
Catherine ingratiates herself into Gabin's life with ulterior motives which are dropped piecemeal in the viewer's lap. The result is riveting film narrative.
Tough logic drives the highly credible and incisive script. B&W photography is exceptional. Fitting soundtrack, too, with great initial song by Germaine Montero.
There is not one weak acting performance in the film. Gérard Blain excels as Gabin's loyal but misunderstood and tragically misrepresented best chum. Gabrielle Fontan as Gabin's sharp-eyed and whip expert mother, and Lucienne Bogaert as Delorme's drugged mother also deserve the highest plaudits.
Perhaps César could have been a meaner-looking dog. I accept that but César too has an exterior that belies his inner personality. That fun and loving exterior conceals a basic loyalty toward his beloved owner, himself an example of loyalty. The scene where César lies next to Blain's covered corpse is deeply touching and it provides the logical ramp for his final, revengeful attack. The beast is capable of far nobler feelings than the modern-looking, cunning, and apparently civilized Catherine, the trademark femme fatale.
Must-see film noir. 10/10
A ferocious take on femme fatale in its deadliest form that needs to be viewed for its shocking first-time impact.
SAMTHEBESTEST18 October 2023
Voici Le Temps Des Assassins / Deadlier Than The Male (1956) :
Brief Review -
A ferocious take on femme fatale in its deadliest form that needs to be viewed for its shocking first-time impact. You may have seen many Femme Fatales from old Hollywood, including several unbeaten classics, but I doubt if you have seen the deadliest Femme Fatale presentation of the leading lady as such. It's absurd and terrifying sometimes because it doesn't fit in your (or mine) regular columns, but that's what makes it shocking. For instance, I personally hate seeing a lady playing femme fatale with a man of her father's age and a man of her age at the same time, and there is nothing shocking here. But it will be a bit shocking if those two men are father and son. It will be a sure fire shock when you know that the girl was the man's daughter, and he introduced her to his son as his sort of sister. That's what's absurd here. I don't belong to that society where a girl can marry her father and also have an affair with her stepbrother. That's ridiculous. I have cut 1 mark in the final rating for that. Now, when I think of it again after the film, I realise that the story would have been uninteresting without those ridiculous conflicts. Here's adding half a mark extra again. Still, the idea is really disturbing, extremely peculiar, and somewhat annihilating. The film needs to be viewed for that. Rest; thankfully, it has a good and positive climax where things come down to a "happy ending". Jean Gabin is superb, as expected, but it's Danièle Delorme who stole my attention. She is so damn good in that gruesomely deadly role. Julien Duvivier's direction is convincing, as the film does not have any flawed moments, and it keeps you very hooked. I'd say you should definitely have a look, but not as a classic or a great film, but to see something pathbreaking that's suitable for our standard human and social conscience.
RATING - 6.5/10*
By - #samthebestest.
A ferocious take on femme fatale in its deadliest form that needs to be viewed for its shocking first-time impact. You may have seen many Femme Fatales from old Hollywood, including several unbeaten classics, but I doubt if you have seen the deadliest Femme Fatale presentation of the leading lady as such. It's absurd and terrifying sometimes because it doesn't fit in your (or mine) regular columns, but that's what makes it shocking. For instance, I personally hate seeing a lady playing femme fatale with a man of her father's age and a man of her age at the same time, and there is nothing shocking here. But it will be a bit shocking if those two men are father and son. It will be a sure fire shock when you know that the girl was the man's daughter, and he introduced her to his son as his sort of sister. That's what's absurd here. I don't belong to that society where a girl can marry her father and also have an affair with her stepbrother. That's ridiculous. I have cut 1 mark in the final rating for that. Now, when I think of it again after the film, I realise that the story would have been uninteresting without those ridiculous conflicts. Here's adding half a mark extra again. Still, the idea is really disturbing, extremely peculiar, and somewhat annihilating. The film needs to be viewed for that. Rest; thankfully, it has a good and positive climax where things come down to a "happy ending". Jean Gabin is superb, as expected, but it's Danièle Delorme who stole my attention. She is so damn good in that gruesomely deadly role. Julien Duvivier's direction is convincing, as the film does not have any flawed moments, and it keeps you very hooked. I'd say you should definitely have a look, but not as a classic or a great film, but to see something pathbreaking that's suitable for our standard human and social conscience.
RATING - 6.5/10*
By - #samthebestest.
A Rich Feast From Julien Duvivier
keithhmessenger6 September 2023
Warning: Spoilers
When it comes to the 'great' French film-makers from, say, the 'classic' period in the nation's cinema, the 1930s to the 1950s inclusive, the names that spring to my mind include Jean Renoir, Marcel Carné, Jean Vigo, Jacques Becker, Jean-Pierre Melville, Henri-Georges Clouzot and maybe one or two others, but that of Julien Duvivier might not even feature. Aside from the man's two most renowned entries, 1936's La Belle Equipe and the following year's Pépé La Moko, the name Duvivier has perhaps been somewhat overlooked (on this side of La Manche, at least). This 'late', 1956, effort from the writer-director is most definitely worthy of some attention, however. I'll admit my attention was initially drawn to the film by the name of the great Jean Gabin, at 52 looking somewhat chubbier than in his prime (think 1954's Touchez pas au grisbi), but the man's mastery of his craft has diminished not one jot. Here, Gabin plays the successful, celebrated even, Les Halles restaurateur, André Chatelin, a 'bachelor' (more accurately, divorcee) happy with his lot, a father figure to Gérard Blain's 'radical' young medical student, Gérard Delacroix, until Danièle Delorme's mysterious young woman, Catherine, comes into Chatelin's life claiming to be the daughter of André's dead wife. What follows is, narrative-wise, a relatively straightforward case of 'gold-digging' by Catherine (supposedly in support of her, actually not deceased, but drug-addled, mother), but shot in atmospheric black-and-white by Armand Thirard and with a witty and emotive script by Duvivier, and what we get is an absorbing poetic-realistic tale in the vein of a Carné with the observational detail and sense of characterisation of a Renoir.
The 'feast' that Duvivier delivers here could be said to be something of balanced meal. On the one hand, there is a clear celebration of French gastronomy, as one diner puts it, 'a cuisine that is uniquely French!', with Chatelin repeatedly detailing the constituents of dish after dish for his diners (for me, the film is probably the most food-centric I've seen, along with Gabriel Axel's Babette's Feast). On the other hand, Duvivier paints a dark picture of human and, it has to be said, specifically female, instinct. Oddly enough, the film's French title, which translates roughly as, 'this is the time for murderers', or even the (weak) UK equivalent, '12 hours to live', pale against the US version (lifted from the Rudyard Kipling poem), Deadlier Than The Male. Not only does Duvivier point to the 'gentle sex' having more duplicitous and ruthless potential, but the average woman here leaves both André and Gérard in their wake in terms of, frankly, what's going on (i.e. That they're being played) - this is, perhaps, one of the film's weaknesses, the pair's apparent ignorance! The superior perceptiveness of the female characters is best demonstrated by André's maid, Gabrielle Fontan superb as Madame Jules, who casts doubt on Catherine's tale from the off, quipping, 'That's not her', as Catherine shows André a picture of her, supposedly deceased, mother, prying into André's private mail and generally acting the busybody. The well-drawn female characterisations here extend to Germaine Kerjean as André's resentful mother, who takes against Catherine (largely through the reputation of the latter's mother) and is part of the two-hander highlight scene in which she takes a 'whip' to Catherine. Duvivier's uncompromising portrait of the seedy side of Parisian life is quite brilliantly done (and very Renoir-like, from something like Les Bas-Fonds), depicting Lucienne Bogaert's mother to Catherine, Gabrielle, in all her debauched disarray, as well as, slightly more subtly, via Aimé Clariond's regular visitor to André's restaurant and seducer of women multiple decades his junior, Monsieur Prévost.
Duvivier's cast are impressive throughout, particularly the supporting character parts and, despite the rather dubious ease with which her character manages to dupe the two men in her life, Danièle Delorme is also something of a revelation as the manipulative 'innocent'. Delorme seems to have been most famous for playing the title role in the 1949 French version of Gigi and, interestingly, the actress does have a similarly cute demeanour as both Audrey Hepburn and Leslie Caron, each of whom also played as Colette's character. Aside from the comparison that can be made between Duvivier's style here with the films of Jean Renoir and Marcel Carné, the other films that immediately sprang to my mind were the Fritz Lang 1940 noirs, Woman in the Window and Scarlet Street, the latter itself a remake of Renoir's La Chienne.
The 'feast' that Duvivier delivers here could be said to be something of balanced meal. On the one hand, there is a clear celebration of French gastronomy, as one diner puts it, 'a cuisine that is uniquely French!', with Chatelin repeatedly detailing the constituents of dish after dish for his diners (for me, the film is probably the most food-centric I've seen, along with Gabriel Axel's Babette's Feast). On the other hand, Duvivier paints a dark picture of human and, it has to be said, specifically female, instinct. Oddly enough, the film's French title, which translates roughly as, 'this is the time for murderers', or even the (weak) UK equivalent, '12 hours to live', pale against the US version (lifted from the Rudyard Kipling poem), Deadlier Than The Male. Not only does Duvivier point to the 'gentle sex' having more duplicitous and ruthless potential, but the average woman here leaves both André and Gérard in their wake in terms of, frankly, what's going on (i.e. That they're being played) - this is, perhaps, one of the film's weaknesses, the pair's apparent ignorance! The superior perceptiveness of the female characters is best demonstrated by André's maid, Gabrielle Fontan superb as Madame Jules, who casts doubt on Catherine's tale from the off, quipping, 'That's not her', as Catherine shows André a picture of her, supposedly deceased, mother, prying into André's private mail and generally acting the busybody. The well-drawn female characterisations here extend to Germaine Kerjean as André's resentful mother, who takes against Catherine (largely through the reputation of the latter's mother) and is part of the two-hander highlight scene in which she takes a 'whip' to Catherine. Duvivier's uncompromising portrait of the seedy side of Parisian life is quite brilliantly done (and very Renoir-like, from something like Les Bas-Fonds), depicting Lucienne Bogaert's mother to Catherine, Gabrielle, in all her debauched disarray, as well as, slightly more subtly, via Aimé Clariond's regular visitor to André's restaurant and seducer of women multiple decades his junior, Monsieur Prévost.
Duvivier's cast are impressive throughout, particularly the supporting character parts and, despite the rather dubious ease with which her character manages to dupe the two men in her life, Danièle Delorme is also something of a revelation as the manipulative 'innocent'. Delorme seems to have been most famous for playing the title role in the 1949 French version of Gigi and, interestingly, the actress does have a similarly cute demeanour as both Audrey Hepburn and Leslie Caron, each of whom also played as Colette's character. Aside from the comparison that can be made between Duvivier's style here with the films of Jean Renoir and Marcel Carné, the other films that immediately sprang to my mind were the Fritz Lang 1940 noirs, Woman in the Window and Scarlet Street, the latter itself a remake of Renoir's La Chienne.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
