Le jour se lève (1939)

American title: Daybreak

A man barricades himself in his apartment after a passional crime. He recalls the incidents which led him to his extreme deed.

There are a few curious things about the characters in Le jour se lève, and it is not at all clear whether they stem from flaws in the writing or from deliberate choices, the reasons for which I could not understand. One of these is that the clarity about the sexual relationship between François and Clara is greater than about that between him and Françoise. Maybe I was not attentive enough, although I do not think so. Anyway, I did not think as much of the movie as its reputation seems to warrant. It is well directed, and Valentin is a very interesting character -- made so by the writing as well as by its player's performance -- and these by themselves are enough qualities to make it a rewarding experience, but they are not enough to make it a masterpiece. The film has several points of contact with Othello (based on my hearsay knowledge of that story), only Le jour se lève's Iago is a vertex of a love quadrangle. By the way, I do not know whether Valentin's psychological traits were already defined in the scénario (the screenplay minus the dialogue) or whether they were created by the dialogue author. This is a difficult authorship question, like so many that exist in the cinema.

Rating: 59