Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Le Jour Se Leve is directed by Marcel Carne, has a screenplay by Jacques Prevert. The film stars Jean Gabin, Arletty, Jules Berry and Jacqueline Laurent.It's not difficult to see why the Vichy government during World War Two hated this film and had it censored. The film shows the police using force to stop someone who didn't pose a threat to them at all. The film also shows that if one person and their beliefs gains support from others, then the minority may become the majority(as shown in the scene where the crowd in the street yell their support for Francois).I also think the film shows that you can destroy a persons reputation and life but you can't destroy their minds and feelings. Francois has no escape from his building when he is surrounded but he can escape into his mind and as we see at the end he can decide his own fate.The film begins inside a French apartment building. A man is shot inside an apartment, he falls down the stairs where a blind man stumbles upon him and yells for help. The man who has shot him is factory worker Francois (Jean Gabin), he locks himself in his apartment armed with a single pistol. He shoots at some police who come to talk to him and a large crowd gathers outside the building.As the Police try and use excessive force to get him out and then try and kill him, Francois recalls the events that led him to be in this situation. This film was one of the first to use flashbacks and the film explains this at the beginning, this was done so audiences at the time would understand what was going on.Francois falls in love with the beautiful and gentle Francoise (Jacqueline Laurent). The scenes between these two characters are some of the most beautiful and tender as they fall in love and seem to be living an idyllic life. All that changes when Francoise falls in love with charming dog trainer Valentin(Jules Berry). Valentin's assistant and lover Clara (Arletty)begins a relationship with Francois to get back at Valentin but soon realises that she is nothing to either man.Gabin gives a strong lead performance, he makes Francois tough and vulnerable at the same time. Jules Berry is superb as the manipulative and charming Valentin. Jacquleine Laurent conveys innocence and purity as Francoise. Arletty is excellent as the frank and sexy woman who finds she is not wanted by either of the men she loves.The relationship between Francois, Francoise and Clara is interesting because both women represent (in my opinion)the two different types of love. Clara is the physical, a woman who lives in the moment and who is fun. Francoise represents emotional and romantic love.The entire cast are superb, the photography and sets are unforgettable, as is the mood this film conveys. Gabin's powerful speech from the window shows what a talented actor he was and that is a scene you don't forget in a hurry.

Thing that this movie is best known and appreciated for is its unique way of storytelling. It's one of the very first movies that features a story that gets mostly told with flashbacks and it keeps switching back between past and present. This storytelling technique was later made more famous and popular by Orson Welles with his masterpiece "Citizen Kane".But of course a movie requires a bit more than just some good storytelling, though it still remains a very important aspect. But this movie also has a great, quite simplistic movie, with still a lot happening in it, like only the French could make. It's a bit of a sweet love-story, that shows the events leading up to a fatal shooting. Some people will call this movie slow but hey, that was just the way movies were back in its days. But it's not like it's slow pace ever makes the movie a boring or dragging one, or at least not to me. It might had been the case if the movie had been a bit longer but with its running time around 90 minutes, it's simply a short movie to watch.It's also one beautiful looking movie, that features some great cinematography and especially lighting. Shadows play in important part in the movie its visual look. Amazing thing about its cinematography is that the movie actually had 4 different cinematographers attached to it. No idea what the story is behind this but I guess that each used their own specialty for this movie, or some of them simply got fired or stepped up during production. Anyway, whatever was the case, it really didn't hurt the movie its visual look. Marcel Carné movies often were visually a real pleasure to watch and this movie forms no exception on this.It's also a movie that quite heavily relies on its actors to tell its story and to deliver its great dialog, that got specially written by poet scenarist and songwriter Jacques Prévert. And this movie luckily had some great actors to work with. At the time Jean Gabin really was one of the best French actors. He really did his best work in the '30's and starred in some other classics such as "Pépé le Moko" and "La grande illusion" during the same decade.Some great and unique storytelling equals a great and unique movie.9/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

This is an excellent French film that deserves to be discovered by modern audiences. Although many "Film Noir" fans might consider the gangster films of Warner Brothers from the 1930s to be true examples of the genre, I look at them more as "Noir-Lite"--as they are more formulaic and more upbeat than the Noir films of the 40s and 50s. So although the thug that Cagney or Raft or Bogart plays in the film is tough and often uses the lingo of true Noir, you KNOW that by the end of the film the bad guy MUST lose and this is all an object lesson to us all about good and evil. But, with later Noir (as well as this film), it rose to a new level because things were often not so "cut and dry"--sometimes evil DID win or the line between good and evil was blurred. It's because of this that for a 1939 film that Le Jour Se Lève excels as a film--unlike the traditional Warner "baddies", the lead, Jean Gabin is neither good nor bad--and his story of how a normal guy can feel forced to kill that makes this film stand out from the crowd.The film begins with a murder and within moments you know that Gabin shot the victim--there is no mystery about this at all. You see how Gabin meets a nice girl and falls for her but this also ultimately leads to the murder. In many ways, this is reminiscent of the great Noir classic DOA, as the film begins you KNOW that Edmund O'Brien will die but the story leading up to it is what the focus will be.I could talk about this story further, but I don't want to spoil the suspense. Instead, let's briefly talk about the technical merit of the film. Jean Gabin was an amazing actor and while I didn't always like all of his films, I definitely admire his casual acting style. In many ways, he looks and acts like a slightly more rugged version of Spencer Tracy. This "everyman" quality make him a good choice for Noir--he's not just some "pretty boy". The supporting cast is very good as well. But the real stars, apart from Gabin, are the writers, director and cinematographer. The story works as does the dialog, the pacing and composition is great and the camera angles and lighting are superb. A fine film with little to complain about--and for me THAT'S unusual!

This is a painfully realistic story bringing to the surface the most basic, noble if not primitive human instincts.The setting is simple but the background context is more complex. As we are looking back at a story filmed on the eve of the most devastating war in world history, in the country that will serve once again as the killing ground where thousands will die. The times, 1939 and France is still bearing the emotional scars from the First World War (La Grande Guerre) and recovering slowly from the United States led Great World Depression. Germany has rearmed, reoccupied it's common territory, the Rhineland under an obscure and belligerent new leader, Adolf Hitler. Times are uncertain, world news are not good, Fascism and Communism are gaining ground in several countries that France is intimately tied to (Spain, Italy, Germany…). The population is insecure especially since the "Grande Guerre" (WW I) had brought human suffering to an atrocity and scale never envisaged before with gas warfare, aerial bombardment, machine guns to name a few.On a smaller scale, under the shadow of the storm building over the world horizon, a man, described as a "simple unfortunate manual laborer" has just killed another man and barricades himself on the top floor of the boarding house he stays at. Cornered like a trapped animal, he awaits his fate by the forces of justice while curious people are assembling in the street to witness the outcome.The victim lays on the floor as he yells his state of mind to the bystanders in the street. And now, through a series of flashbacks, he reviews the main events of his existence that brought him to his last hours of his destiny, and what a pitiful life has it been for Francois (Jean Gabin). The tragedy of his youth is not only written in the features of his facial expression but also in the way he speaks, the harsh tone of his voice, the cynicism expressed in the choice of his words. We learned that he was raised as an orphan in a state run agency (l'Enfance). He held many jobs and his only rare possessions surround him in this spartan attic room, a bicycle, a bed, a table, a desk with a mirror riddled with bullet holes (I think) and a few pictures of better days cycling. As he winds his mechanical alarm clock, we discover that is entire day consists of waking up in the morning, working senselessly all day, and coming back late to get some sleep. He is not getting anywhere, just surviving the absurdity of life. I almost forgot, there is also a little medallion (broche) like my grand mother used to wear, attached to the side of his mirror. Remember this medallion...In another flashback, we find out that in the arrid winter of Francois' life, a little flower of hope grew, her name was Francoise. She was young, innocent and fragile. She too had suffered and had been raised as an orphan. Francois falls in love, discovering hope possibly for the first time in his dark life. Francois, who has lived so devoid of all the basic human needs now finds "wholeness", Francoise completes him and soothes all his past pain as they consume each other in a green house, surrounded by flowers like the Garden of Eden. They even dream about picking lilacs at Easter, in the country. Strangely enough, outside of this flowery oasis is a fenced shaded alley, overlooking a noisy railroad track where a steam locomotive hurls by.Unfortunately, winter was not over for Francois yet as an older man, a cruel animal trainer called "Valentin", through some machiavellic explanations claims the rights to Francois' protégée and salvation. Francois, angered, resists the impulse of aggression, helped by Francoise's loving reassurance. In one last flashback, Valentin returns and deal a cruel blow to Francois, a devastating final revelation which will cause his own demise and end Francois' hopes for a future. The details of the revelation and the outcome of the story are for the viewer to discover.Technically, taken in the context and time this picture was filmed, the movie is a masterpiece both in the story as in the cinematography. Francois' struggle for a life that is meaningless or ludicrous is the fate that most of humanity endures. All of us (I hope) have felt at one time or the other the energizing uplifting joy of love and experienced the relief from pain that it can bring. The tragedy of Francois' life is very real, very human and affects many of us. For those who are following the movie from the English sub-titles, there is confusion in the dialogues at the end when Francoise is talking with Clara about her love: Francoise is the feminine version of the masculine name Francois. It is difficult at times to differentiate in the dialogue which one is the speaker referring to and the translator switched the names but it does not change the overall meaning of the drama.In summary, this cinematographic masterpiece reminded me that love is the only thing that makes life worth living, may be the last memory that a dying person remembers… and I have seen a lot of people die… as a war Disabled Veteran.