Left breathless by her appearance in the Film Noir Casque d'Or,I started trying to remember another Noir with Simone Signoret that a fellow IMDber had reviewed. Struggling to find the title, (with the plot details being ones that lingered in the mind) I was thankfully to get some kind help from a fellow IMDber who helped me to at last identify the title,which led to me meeting Dédée d'Anvers.
The plot:
Working for years in Monsieur René's night club/brothel, Dédée has learnt to never get her hopes up of leaving the place,with her partner Marco,also acting as her hard bargaining pimp. Crossing paths at the dock yard, Dédée meets Francesco,who has recently sailed in. Falling for each other, Dédée begins to hope that the high seas will give her freedom from Marco and the Film Noir doom in René's residence.
View on the film:
Clad in a shiny Film Noir leather coat,the gorgeous Simone Signoret gives a magnificent performance as Dédée.Used to hearing all the sweet nothings yelled down the street,Signoret expertly reveals the wall that Dédée has built herself to stop anyone getting past a skin-deep level. Warming to Francesco,Signoret finely balances a Femme Fatale bluntness in sharp off the cuff dialogue,with a fragility cracked by Francesco opening himself up to Dédée.Waiting at the docks for Dédée, Marcello Pagliero gives a magnetic performance as Film Noir loner Francesco. Prominently featuring his blue-collar edges, Pagliero breaks Francesco stone face to unveil a nervousness over leaving his Noir loner past behind by opening up to someone for the first time.
Made a year before he and Signoret got divorced,co-writer/(along with Jacques Sigurd) director Yves Allégret & cinematographer Jean Bourgoin breath in the sea atmosphere with ragged tracking shots following Dédée and Francesco down each murky Noir street littering the town. Pulling the Femme Fatale sparks from Dédée, Allégret enters the brothel with poetic style,dipping into Dédée's mind with elegant first person shots which shatter against the lingering shadows cast over Dédée's face during the ghostly final.
Bringing Henri La Barthe's novel in from the sea,the screenplay by Allégret and Sigurd fills Rene's brothel with hard-nosed thugs and dames,where one misplaced word in the excellent dialogue can set off a knuckleduster fuse. Initially making the exchanges between Dédée and Francesco restrained,the writers give a rich sincerity to their vulnerabilities being exposed in the flowering romance,which makes Francesco's scream with passion to get off the Film Noir ship with Dédée.
The plot:
Working for years in Monsieur René's night club/brothel, Dédée has learnt to never get her hopes up of leaving the place,with her partner Marco,also acting as her hard bargaining pimp. Crossing paths at the dock yard, Dédée meets Francesco,who has recently sailed in. Falling for each other, Dédée begins to hope that the high seas will give her freedom from Marco and the Film Noir doom in René's residence.
View on the film:
Clad in a shiny Film Noir leather coat,the gorgeous Simone Signoret gives a magnificent performance as Dédée.Used to hearing all the sweet nothings yelled down the street,Signoret expertly reveals the wall that Dédée has built herself to stop anyone getting past a skin-deep level. Warming to Francesco,Signoret finely balances a Femme Fatale bluntness in sharp off the cuff dialogue,with a fragility cracked by Francesco opening himself up to Dédée.Waiting at the docks for Dédée, Marcello Pagliero gives a magnetic performance as Film Noir loner Francesco. Prominently featuring his blue-collar edges, Pagliero breaks Francesco stone face to unveil a nervousness over leaving his Noir loner past behind by opening up to someone for the first time.
Made a year before he and Signoret got divorced,co-writer/(along with Jacques Sigurd) director Yves Allégret & cinematographer Jean Bourgoin breath in the sea atmosphere with ragged tracking shots following Dédée and Francesco down each murky Noir street littering the town. Pulling the Femme Fatale sparks from Dédée, Allégret enters the brothel with poetic style,dipping into Dédée's mind with elegant first person shots which shatter against the lingering shadows cast over Dédée's face during the ghostly final.
Bringing Henri La Barthe's novel in from the sea,the screenplay by Allégret and Sigurd fills Rene's brothel with hard-nosed thugs and dames,where one misplaced word in the excellent dialogue can set off a knuckleduster fuse. Initially making the exchanges between Dédée and Francesco restrained,the writers give a rich sincerity to their vulnerabilities being exposed in the flowering romance,which makes Francesco's scream with passion to get off the Film Noir ship with Dédée.