For once, the character flaws are genuine human foibles instead of a screenwriter's idea of easily solved psychoses. These twitchy characters are pleasingly three-dimensional.
Quai des Orfèvres (1947)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:30
Fresh:30
Rotten:0
Average Rating:8.3/10
Consensus: Henri-Georges Clouzot's engrossing noir explores the troubles of post-war France and the line dividing social struggle and criminality.
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Synopsis: Jenny Lamour (Suzy Delair) is a singer who is prepared to become a sensation. However, she doesn't do it in the field of music. Instead she is embroiled in this tale of intrigue which involves her... Jenny Lamour (Suzy Delair) is a singer who is prepared to become a sensation. However, she doesn't do it in the field of music. Instead she is embroiled in this tale of intrigue which involves her accompanist and husband murdering a man who Jenny has made seductive eye contact with. Henri-Georges Clouzot directs this thriller full of rich complex characters and a dark world view, perhaps attributable to Clouzot's own experience with LE CORBEAU, his previous film which was banned by both Nazi Germany and his French homeland. [More]
Starring: Suzy Delair, Louis Jouvet
Starring: Suzy Delair, Louis Jouvet
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Reviews for Quai des Orfèvres
A noirish, backstage whodunit that throws together a sweet-hearted floozy, the jealous husband from hell and a detective who just might be the funniest Gallic grouch in the history of the movies.
Released in America as Jenny Lamour, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s story of ambition, murder, mystery and cover-up -- and their all-too-human foundations -- holds up remarkably well.
Filmmaker Clouzot, who won best director at Venice for this film, is incapable of making anyone or any situation standard, and that's a gift not even half a century on the shelf can tarnish.
A movie whose top-notch acting, rich decor and pungent atmosphere will delight any devotee of classic French cinema -- and whose taut plot will satisfy mystery and suspense buffs as well.
A splendid find -- part policier and part marital comedy, replete with that winking, twisting sexuality that the French have always done so well.
A thing of beauty, perhaps, to be savored by film enthusiasts and analyzed by film scholars.
While Delair is lively and appealing, Charles Dullin is magnificently creepy as the murder victim.
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