Gathering up all 4 of the films Jeanne Moreau made in 1957,I started trying to decide which would be the last one I'd watch over the one film a day over 4 days. Finding this to have the shortest run-time of the 4,I was also happy to see that this featured the second team-up between Moreau and Lino Ventura of the year, (the other being the excellent Film Noir L'étrange Monsieur Steve) which led to me counting the days left to live.
View on the film:
The lone non-Noir title she made in 1957, Jeanne Moreau gives a sweet performance as Fortin,with Moreau's measured approach allowing Fortin to offer a note of calm in the middle of chaos. Terrified over crossing paths again with Lino Ventura's imposing Lino Ferrari, Daniel Gélin gives a terrific, on-edge performance as Belin,who leaps with bags of energy from his new found-fame, but leaps back to fear over the event that gave him this fame.
Opening with the curtain going down on a show, co-writer/(with Michel Audiard & Guy Bertret) director Gilles Grangier teams up with The Wages of Fear cameraman Louis Née and cinematographer Armand Thirard to playfully go behind the scenes of Belin's stage shows, via striking flickers of light opening the high stakes of each production, and the stakes on Belin's life. Swimming in Joseph Kosma's jolly score, the writers put Peter Vanett's novel on stage with Crime (not Noir) and Comedy zest, as the high-jinxs roll out from Fortin and Belin's romantic high-drama in front of,and behind the stage curtain, whilst a threatening call from Ferrari, causes Belin to countdown his three days left to live.
View on the film:
The lone non-Noir title she made in 1957, Jeanne Moreau gives a sweet performance as Fortin,with Moreau's measured approach allowing Fortin to offer a note of calm in the middle of chaos. Terrified over crossing paths again with Lino Ventura's imposing Lino Ferrari, Daniel Gélin gives a terrific, on-edge performance as Belin,who leaps with bags of energy from his new found-fame, but leaps back to fear over the event that gave him this fame.
Opening with the curtain going down on a show, co-writer/(with Michel Audiard & Guy Bertret) director Gilles Grangier teams up with The Wages of Fear cameraman Louis Née and cinematographer Armand Thirard to playfully go behind the scenes of Belin's stage shows, via striking flickers of light opening the high stakes of each production, and the stakes on Belin's life. Swimming in Joseph Kosma's jolly score, the writers put Peter Vanett's novel on stage with Crime (not Noir) and Comedy zest, as the high-jinxs roll out from Fortin and Belin's romantic high-drama in front of,and behind the stage curtain, whilst a threatening call from Ferrari, causes Belin to countdown his three days left to live.