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Thursday, July 2, 2020

HOTEL DU NORD (1938)

Working without usual scenarist Jacques Prévert, but very much with regular production designer Alexandre Trauner (on rare form even for him), Marcel Carné came whisker close to perfection in this classic example of French Poetic Realism, that stylistic precursor to Hollywood film noir. The clever portmanteau narrative structure has every room at the Hôtel du Nord hold a discrete story that leaks into the one next door, malleable love affairs between an underworld snitch (criminal justice in hot pursuit); seen-it-all prostitute; suicidal young lovers*, gay confectioner, wife with a wandering eye for that smooth talking delivery man while her ‘constant husband’ earns pocket money selling his own blood. Each one (and others in parabolic orbit), also part of a single synchronized organism, spinning in dramatic alignment that might seem contrived, but comes off as inevitable. How otherwise with Arletty, Louis Jouvet (his greatest perf?), Bernard Blier & others, all in peak form? Now a pleasure to watch in a fabulous restoration out on MK2 Blu-Ray. (Available on various internet platforms.) The film is unlikely to displace CHILDREN OF PARADISE/’46 as Carné’s ‘go to’ film title, but it may be his best. A must.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Unable to find work (hence the suicide pact), Annabella & Jean-Pierre Aumont are such a stunningly beautiful pair of lovers, they could solve their financial problems posing for high end advertisements.

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