Falbalas

Raymond Rouleau is a successful Parisian fashion designer who sleeps with his models and then dumps them -- as lovers; he keeps them around professionally. He's preparing the show for his spring line, and it's already high summer, so he's naturally frazzled when his friend, fabric merchant Jean Chevrier, introduces his fiancee, Micheline Presle. This time, Rouleau realizes, it's love.

It's a world that looks familiar to anyone who's seen the recent THE PHANTOM THREAD, a tiny world of professional obsession and power. Director Jacques Becker uses techniques that suggest the burgeoning film noir, like the femme fatale, telling the story in flashback, and so forth, but we're still in dark magical realism territory. The DP is the much admired Nicolas Hayer, who shoots the women as old and a bit weary looking, except for some key scenes. It's shocking to see Mlle Presle looking considerably older than her 24 at the time of shooting. She's till around as I write this, about to turn 100 next month. She hasn't been seen on the screen since 2014.