Le Jour se lève
Encyclopedia
Le Jour se lève is a 1939
French film directed by Marcel Carné
and written by Jacques Prévert
, based on a story by Jacques Viot. It is considered one of the principal examples of the French film movement known as poetic realism
.
The film was remade as The Long Night
(1947), with Henry Fonda
in the Gabin role. In 1952, it was included in the first Sight and Sound top ten greatest films list.
) shooting and killing Valentin (Jules Berry). François then locks himself in his room in a guest house at the top of many flights of stairs. He is soon besieged by the police, who fail in an attempt to shoot themselves into the room, as François barricades himself in.
In a series of flashbacks punctuated by glimpses of the present, it is revealed that François had become involved with both the naive young floral shop worker Françoise (Jacqueline Laurent), and the more experienced Clara (Arletty
), who until she met François had been the assistant in Valentin's performing dog act. It becomes clear that the manipulative Valentin, an older man, had himself been involved with both women, and he becomes jealous of François (at one point, mendaciously telling François that he, Valentin, was Françoise's father, although both she and François had grown up in orphanages). Finally Valentin confronts François in his room, bringing with him the gun with which François eventually shoots him.
As we return to the present, François continues to chain-smoke nervously in his room. Françoise, having learned of his plight, has become delirious and is being tended to by Clara in her room at a nearby hotel. Then, two policemen climb over the roof of François's building, preparing to throw tear gas grenades through the window of François's room. Before they can do so, François, consumed with despair, shoots himself in the heart. The film ends with tear gas clouds filling the room around his lifeless body.
In 1947, it was again suppressed when RKO Radio Pictures wanted to remake the film in Hollywood (as The Long Night). The company acquired the distribution rights of the French film and sought to buy up and destroy every copy of the film that they could obtain. For a time it was feared that that they had been successful and that the film was lost, but it re-appeared in the 1950s and has subsequently stood alongside Les Enfants du paradis
as one of the finest achievements of the partnership of Carné and Prévert.
1939 in film
The year 1939 in motion pictures can be justified as being called the most outstanding one ever, when it comes to the high quality and high attendance at the large set of the best films that premiered in the year .- Events :Motion picture historians and film often rate...
French film directed by Marcel Carné
Marcel Carné
-Biography:Born in Paris, France, the son of a cabinet maker whose wife died when their son was five, Carné began his career as a film critic, becoming editor of the weekly publication, Hebdo-Films, and working for Cinémagazine and Cinémonde between 1929 and 1933. In the same period he worked in...
and written by Jacques Prévert
Jacques Prévert
Jacques Prévert was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain very popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. Some of the movies he wrote are extremely well regarded, with Les Enfants du Paradis considered one of the greatest films of all time.-Life and...
, based on a story by Jacques Viot. It is considered one of the principal examples of the French film movement known as poetic realism
Poetic realism
Poetic realism was a film movement in France of the 1930s and through the war years. More a tendency than a movement, Poetic Realism is not strongly unified like Soviet Montage or French Impressionism. Its leading filmmakers were Jean Renoir, Pierre Chenal, Jean Vigo, Julien Duvivier, and Marcel...
.
The film was remade as The Long Night
The Long Night (1947 film)
The Long Night is a 1947 film noir directed by Anatole Litvak and produced by RKO. It is a remake of Le Jour se lève by Marcel Carné. The drama features Henry Fonda, Barbara Bel Geddes, Vincent Price, Ann Dvorak, and others.-Plot:...
(1947), with Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
in the Gabin role. In 1952, it was included in the first Sight and Sound top ten greatest films list.
Synopsis
The film begins with foundry worker François (Jean GabinJean Gabin
-Biography:Born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé in Paris, he grew up in the village of Mériel in the Seine-et-Oise département, about 22 mi north of Paris. The son of cabaret entertainers, he attended the Lycée Janson de Sailly...
) shooting and killing Valentin (Jules Berry). François then locks himself in his room in a guest house at the top of many flights of stairs. He is soon besieged by the police, who fail in an attempt to shoot themselves into the room, as François barricades himself in.
In a series of flashbacks punctuated by glimpses of the present, it is revealed that François had become involved with both the naive young floral shop worker Françoise (Jacqueline Laurent), and the more experienced Clara (Arletty
Arletty
Arletty was a French actress, singer, and fashion model.-Life and career:Arletty was born Léonie Marie Julie Bathiat in Courbevoie , to a working-class family. Her early career was dominated by the music hall, and she later appeared in plays and cabaret. Arletty was a stage performer for ten years...
), who until she met François had been the assistant in Valentin's performing dog act. It becomes clear that the manipulative Valentin, an older man, had himself been involved with both women, and he becomes jealous of François (at one point, mendaciously telling François that he, Valentin, was Françoise's father, although both she and François had grown up in orphanages). Finally Valentin confronts François in his room, bringing with him the gun with which François eventually shoots him.
As we return to the present, François continues to chain-smoke nervously in his room. Françoise, having learned of his plight, has become delirious and is being tended to by Clara in her room at a nearby hotel. Then, two policemen climb over the roof of François's building, preparing to throw tear gas grenades through the window of François's room. Before they can do so, François, consumed with despair, shoots himself in the heart. The film ends with tear gas clouds filling the room around his lifeless body.
Cast
- Jean GabinJean Gabin-Biography:Born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé in Paris, he grew up in the village of Mériel in the Seine-et-Oise département, about 22 mi north of Paris. The son of cabaret entertainers, he attended the Lycée Janson de Sailly...
as François - Jacqueline Laurent as Françoise
- Jules Berry as M. Valentin
- ArlettyArlettyArletty was a French actress, singer, and fashion model.-Life and career:Arletty was born Léonie Marie Julie Bathiat in Courbevoie , to a working-class family. Her early career was dominated by the music hall, and she later appeared in plays and cabaret. Arletty was a stage performer for ten years...
as Clara - Arthur DevèreArthur DevèreArthur Devère was a Belgian film actor. He appeared in 59 films between 1913 and 1956.-Selected filmography:* Carnival in Flanders * Le Jour se lève * Girls in Distress...
as Mr. Gerbois - Bernard BlierBernard BlierBernard Blier was a French character actor. His rotund features and premature baldness allowed him to often play cuckolded husbands in his early career. He proved to be one of France's most versatile and sought-after character actors, performing interchangeably in comedies and dramas...
as Gaston - Marcel PérèsMarcel PérèsMarcel Pérès is a French musicologist, composer, choral director and singer, and the founder of the early music group Ensemble Organum. He is an authority on Gregorian and pre-Gregorian chant....
as Paulo - Germaine Lix as La chanteuse
- Georges DoukingGeorges DoukingGeorges Douking was a French stage, film, and television actor. He also directed stage plays such as the premier presentation of Jean Giraudoux's Sodom and Gomorrah at the Théâtre Hébertot in 1943. He is perhaps best known for his role in the surreal 1972 comedy The Discreet Charm of the...
as blind man
Distribution
Le Jour se lève was released in France in June 1939, and it was shown in the USA in the following year. In France in 1940 however, it was banned by the Vichy government on the grounds that it was demoralizing and had contributed to the nation's defeat. After the end of the war, the film was shown again to wide acclaim.In 1947, it was again suppressed when RKO Radio Pictures wanted to remake the film in Hollywood (as The Long Night). The company acquired the distribution rights of the French film and sought to buy up and destroy every copy of the film that they could obtain. For a time it was feared that that they had been successful and that the film was lost, but it re-appeared in the 1950s and has subsequently stood alongside Les Enfants du paradis
Children of Paradise
Les Enfants du Paradis, released as Children of Paradise in North America, is a 1945 French film by French director Marcel Carné, made during the German occupation of France during World War II...
as one of the finest achievements of the partnership of Carné and Prévert.
External links
- Le Jour Se Leve at the TCM Movie DatabaseTurner Classic MoviesTurner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...