"One must not focus on what is seen but what is not seen."

morrison-dylan-fan

With a friends birthday coming up,I felt that it would be the perfect time to introduce her to the work of auteur film maker Henri-Georges Clouzot. Struggling to find a title which would appear the most accessible,I remembered reading an excellent review by a fellow IMDber on a Clouzot movie which features a light comedy touch,which led to me getting ready to visit number 21.

The plot:

Walking back home after winning the lottery jackpot,a man is killed by a stranger,who leaves a card with "Monsieur Durand" written on it.As the killing spree continues and the press discover that a serial killer is terrorising the streets, L'inspecteur Wenceslas Wens is told that he must uncover the identity of the stranger in 3 days time,or he will be sacked from the police.

Ignoring his girlfriend Mila Malou's failing attempts to become a stage star,Wens finds himself hitting nothing but dead ends.Giving Wens his first glimmer of hope,a former criminal goes to Wens to tell him that he recently got some furniture from a boarding house called 21,Rue Junot,which contained the "Durand" cards that are left next to the victim.Desperate to track down Durand,Wens decides to take up a room at the place by pretending to be a pastor.As he starts to build character profiles for each of his fellow guests,Wens is caught by surprise,when he discovers that Malou has also gone undercover as a guest in Rue Junot,in order to help Wens uncover Durand's true identity.

View on the film:

Before I get to the film,I have to mention that Masters of Cinema have given the film a fantastic transfer,with the picture perfectly capturing the atmospheres that Clouzot is building,and the sharp audio allowing the audience to hear ever murder that Durand makes.

Transferring from being the main screenwriter for the Nazi- controlled studio Continental Films to directing one of their titles,co-writer/(along with Stanislas-André Steeman) director Henri-Georges Clouzot marks his feature film debut with a tremendous, stylised precision. Capturing the darkness that France was trapped in,Clouzot and cinematographer Armand Thirard give the murders a brittle texture,thanks to Clouzot & Thirard placing the viewer in Durland's mind with long first-person tracking shots,which force the viewer to be face to face with the victim.Unleashing a decaying Film Noir atmosphere by soaking the streets of France in raw grey and blacks,Clouzot and Thirard reveal a remarkable delicacy in crossing two distinctive moods smoothly over each other.

Clouzot packs 21 Rue Junot with Screwball Comedy characters who are each given their moment to shine in a soft,contrasting light,whilst never making the Film Noir tension freeze,by each of the Screwball punchlines leading Wens and Malou close to uncovering Durand.Spending the last few years working for a Nazi- run studio,Clouzot takes a clever,subtle approach to attacking the Nazis, (who demanded that Clouzot change the films location from the UK to France)which goes from residences of 21,Rue Junot seeing the murder victims as worthless "outsiders",to the Durand's identity being revealed in connection to a Nazi salute.

Following Georges Lacombe's near-forgotten first adaptation of Stanislas-André Steeman's Wens/Malou books,the screenplay by Clouzot give Wens & Malou's relationship a charming playfulness,due to both of them being given opposing personalities,with Malou shooting witty one liners across the screen,whilst Wens digs deeper in 21,Rue Junot's Film Noir foundations.As the couple shoot Screwball punch lines at each other,Clouzot keeps the harsh Film Noir atmosphere building to an excellent conclusion,via always keeping Durland's murder cards one step ahead of the duo,as Durland's cards go from landing on an unlucky lottery winner,to being left covered in blood right outside the police station.

Reuniting after Lacombe's title,the cute Suzy Delair, (who along with being a singer on the stage,was also Clouzot's girlfriend) and Pierre Fresnay both give wonderful performances as Wens/Malou. Bouncing across the screen,Delair gives Malou the perfect elegance,which allow Malou to have fun flirting at Wens,whilst making sure that the seriousness of the killings is always towering above Malou.Catching each of Malou's sly glances, Pierre Fresnay gives a great performance as Wens,with Fresnay kicking Wens desperation to uncover Durland with a silky-smooth,charismatic charm,as Clouzot reveals what is hidden inside 21,Rue Junot.

score 10/10

morrison-dylan-fan 5 August 2015

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3291644/