Une histoire d'amour

Interesting as Louis Jouvet's last role on the screen;filmed by the same director as for "Knock" the year before,Jouvet's presence is the main reason to see this otherwise rather run-of-the-mill Romeo and Juliet version.

Two lovers (Daniel Gélin and Dany Robin )commit suicide because the girl's wealthy parents do not want their only girl to marry a looser.The movie is a long flashback,in which Jouvet's investigations alternate with rather vapid love scenes .Jouvet's scenes are by far the best ,because ,his genius shines everywhere.Outside him,two good sequences:the boy's father and his partner-played by an actress who apes Arletty as hell- visit the lovers and their vulgar behavior makes the young guy ashamed of his father;the conclusion,which contains a small twist-why did they commit suicide?Not exactly what we thought-. Dany Robin and Daniel Gélin will be both Hitchcock's actors,the former in "topaz"(1969),the latter in "the man who knew too much" (1956).

A young couple are found dead in a car and the film is basically a flashback over the period preceding their deaths to find out why. The police inspector investigating is played by Louis Jouvet, a great French actor of long ago. I was most impressed by the theme music which created within me as much if not more emotion than that of "Le Diable au Corps" though the composer of this one was Paul Misraki (that man must have been a genius, he wrote so many lovely tunes) and that of Le Diable au Corps was written by Rene Clöarec. The film itself is to me less emotional than Le Diable au Corps, but nevertheless very good (but the plots aren't the same ). However, performances of all actors were very good especially Jouvet. Picture quality is fairly mediocre, let us hope that it will be remasterized and edited on DVD !

It is his film. Not surprising for a story who you know very well, for the old conflict between social classes, for the tensioned, for many reasons, relations between children and their parents.

A tragic love story giving nothing new.

Decent acting, reasonable development of story.

And Louis Jouvet.

Not only the status of last role impress but the admirable manner to explore each nuance defining his character - a police investigator - dominating each scene in subtle and precise way. A film profound useful for remind the old french cinema and a form of masterclass with deep roots in classic theater. So, Louis Jouvet in his last role , a tragic story of love and obtusity, social classes clash and a radical decision for conquer the happiness.