User reviews

The screenplay is very thin and the story so unlikely it is a wonder Henri Calef made an endearing movie.

This must be the cinematography(Jacques Lemare):the pictures are really a feast for the eyes .Almost all the story takes place on a barge sailing down a canal,or on the banks beneath the shady trees which seem to protect the characters.The faces are often filmed in close-shot ,which increases the tension,for the characters often move in the cabins of the barge with its low ceilings.

A woman is on the lam.Distraught,she runs across the streets of a small town ,looking for a way to get out of this place.She takes refuge on a barge where two men work .She asks them to take her to Paris and of course she is hiding a terrible secret.

Henri Vidal was the romantic young lead of the era ,a title Delon and Belmondo would take off him only after his death in 1959.He was not always given the parts he deserved .Maria Mauban,the female star ,did not often play the lead.The supporting actors,apart from Daniel Ivernel (Jean-Jean),only appear a few minutes.Watch out for a brief appearance of Louis De Funès as the lock keeper.

Like this? try these...

"L'Atalante" Jean Vigo 1933-34

"La Mesange Et L'Hirondelle" André Antoine 1920

"La Fille De L'eau" Jean Renoir 1924

There is such atmosphere to this French noir film, which has a woman (Maria Mauban) fleeing a small town and hitching a ride to Paris on a river barge. It's a tight story told over five days, and director Henri Calef does a good job in letting the characters unfold over time. We see tension between the two men who operate the barge (the captain, played by Henri Vidal and the first mate, Daniel Ivernel) in various forms, including the mate's plan to make a little extra money by smuggling a load of alcohol. It's an interesting commentary on the male struggle with hierarchy; there are only two of them, and yet they seem to regularly butt heads, with the captain needing to assert himself even when it's unnecessary, and the mate doing passive-aggressive things in protest. Just as the barge lumbers down the narrow canals, we feel the closeness of its quarters, and perhaps the inevitability of the sexual rivalry that plays out for Mauban, even though both men are married.

Vidal is excellent, especially in the moment of truth scenes with Mauban, and I smiled when he punched out Ivernel with his forearms and elbows. Mauban is wonderful too, with great screen presence and a character whose innocence in what she's running from being questionable. Ivernel's character seems selfish and a bit of a fool, but he seems to see through her best, and there is thus nuance to each of the three principal characters. The cinematography is great, whether it's on that heavy barge or in the shadows or dappled light of the trees along the shore, and there are moments of real tension. A nice little film to find.