A classic

I already saw this movie, but since it was a while back and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out again. Well, to be honest, I have to admit that I really didn't remember anything about this movie. On top of that, I was this time quite blown away by the damned thing so I'm really glad I checked it out again after all these years. I don't know, for some reasons, maybe because I recently fell in love with a beautiful and amazing young woman, this story of a doomed romance hit me so hard. Seriously, I was on the verge of tears through most of the duration. Anyway, it is not very often that a director get the opportunity to launch a whole new genre but that’s basically what happened with Marcel Carné. I’m pretty sure that the guy didn’t realize it at the time that he would pretty much create a new genre which would have a huge impact on the French cinema. This new style was called poetic-realism, a style which would become Carné’s trademark, a style he would start with ‘Le quai des brumes’ and ended up with this movie. Eventually, Jean Gabin and Arletty were both amazing here, that’s for sure. Even though it takes place in a realistic social background (‘realism’), the dialogues and emotions rise above (‘poetic’) and even though it seems that everything was shot on location, it was in fact shot in studios creating some interesting and stylish canvas. In this case, there was something so genuine about this couple and, yet, everything they said was also so poetic so this movie definitely belonged to this genre, that's for sure. This approach would be later on criticized and rejected by the French New Wave but that’s another story. Anyway, to conclude, in my opinion, it is one of the greatest love stories ever told and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

9/10