Touches You

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Jean is a man of a few words, but his demeanor and his clothing talk loud enough about his condition, he's dressed as a soldier and aimlessly wonders somewhere out of the city, he's at the edge of the world and at the edge of himself. Although the word is never uttered in the film, but the innuendo are obvious, he's a deserter. He's not too proud of himself, some circumstances might have pushed him: malcontent disillusion, some existential sickness, but the movie doesn't give him excuses or alibis, his desertion isn't the end of the journey, but the starting point… or is it?Jean doesn't say much but doesn't refuse the cigarette a truck driver amiably offers, and with the cigarette butt stuck to the corner of his mouth, he utters brief and laconic responses, "not a talkative fellow" comments a driver who expected to break the serene monotony of his own routine. But if Jean isn't stingy on words, he knows how to act without asking for permission, he suddenly grabs the wheel and deviates the truck from the road, to spare a puppy dog from being crushed to death. How ironic that this seemingly careless man displays his first signs of interest for this frail little animal, there's still a heart beating behind that tough facade, and one's strength can be measured through his reaction in life-and-death situations, eventually, when the grateful puppy follows him, he coldly dismisses it. There is something in Jean Gabin that is inexplicably appealing, he's a man who exudes confidence and charisma even in situations of seemingly weaknesses or immobility, he never really acts and is rather static in many of his films, but it's not in quantity, he can take as many provocations as possible but one word too many against a woman he happens to life and you get the backhanded slap à la Bogart. Gabin is perhaps the first Bogart-figure before Bogart, a guy who acts and reacts but doesn't talk much. When it comes to talk, it's all in the characters gravitating around him that his films can inject their philosophy, about life, looks, love, everything. Jean is too stubborn, too earthly to think of the meaning of his life, he just wants to get the hell out of her, in the Port of Havres, some talk the talk, he walks the walk.But this is not any Port, it's a Port of shadow and foggy atmosphere, there's no clear visibility whatsoever in the future or the past, it's all in the present, a present incarnated by many shades of black, white and gray, or a present incarnated by the beautiful Nelly, played by Michèle Morgan. She's obviously not a lady of the world, she's young and looks sweet but she must have a past, too. And she does, she also flees a nasty godfather infatuated with her, played by Michel Simon, the most recognizable face of French cinema, with his ugly mug, he could be a sensitive teddy-bear or a cynical villain, he resents his ugliness but "better this face than no face at all", and the place Jean lands on is populated of these gray areas fellows, one of them is a small time crook, Lucien played by Pierre Brasseur, looking for Nelly's boyfriend one of his guys who disappeared.This little world evolves around the Port of Shadows and it's such a small one we expect the inevitable collisions, and not a happy ending, this is a film takes such a somber departure and there are not enough pixels to carry a rainbow. The film has been called somber by the New York Times, and guess how the word translates n French: noir, this film is perhaps one of the first and finest examples of pre-noir film, the kind of movies where you know as certitude that this port of shadow is a nasty place can be both an end or a start, some ships sail to Venezuela, and some gangster matters are handled in the port like in such films as "On the Waterfront". Meanwhile, Jean spends a nice evening with Nelly, they go to a café, to the carnival, and this is where they have the most famous exchange of French cinema, where Gabin, staring at Morgan tells her "you've got pretty eyes, you know". Her answer is as sweet as it is perfect, she asks for a kiss.This is the brief and enchanted parenthesis before the plot moves to its tragic destination, and I guess the film is so sad and dark, that it's no wonder the most remembered line was a happy one, that was Jean life's highest spot, before Karma could come back at him, and make him victim of his principles. Some 'heroes' just can't win, because they're doomed, because the ugliness of the world is just too great to sustain or because there is more poetry in losing and dying than just hiding somewhere like a rat, he couldn't go full deserter, he had to redeem that ugliness never explicated, that's the poetry. It is indeed funny that we refer to poetic justice for deadly events, but this is a poetry that forged the realism poetic genre in France and contributed to some of its great classics, directed by Marcel Carné and written, of all the authors, by poet Prévert.Jean Gabin would shoot Marcel Carné's "Daybreak" before war broke and end the first part of his career but Marcel Carné was still in a terrific streak that started with "Drole de Drame" and ended with "Children of Paradise" contributing to some of the greatest and most celebrated French films, "Port of Shadows" is one of the most emblematic, if not the most, it certainly has the most iconic kiss.

There is a good deal of gloomy melodrama in this movie, particularly in the first third, but there is much to enjoy as well.Jean Gabin portrays Jean, an everyman on the run. We know he is a deserter from the French colonial military forces, but he conveys integrity and a fatalistic sense that wins our sympathy. He is a man of few words who, rather like a Hemingway hero, has no use for grand phrases. Gabin's performance helps us to put up with the gloomy philosophizing and grim melodramatic posturing that is particularly apparent in the first third of the movie and is embodied most of all in the character of the painter. We are meant to sympathize with the painter, who makes pronouncements about how awful life is, hints that he is about to commit suicide, and then does so, as a grand gesture leaving his clothes and shoes behind for Gabin. Michele Morgan as Nelly is beautiful, and as her love for Jean deepens she becomes absolutely radiant. There are some fine moments of romance in the last part of the movie that deepen our sense of tragedy, since we know that Jean must abandon her to evade his punishment for desertion. Another good performance is that of Pierre Brasseur as a vain petty hood who is not nearly as brave as he portrays himself.The direction, the camera-work, and the musical score are all excellent. The gloomy fogbound setting takes on an eerie beauty. The close-ups in the love scenes of Jean and Nelly are quite moving.It's a really good picture, in spite of its contrived story and a dime-store philosophy.

Port of Shadows is a prime example of French Poetic Realism. It has doomed lovers, atmospheric settings, dark and foggy images with low-key lighting, and rain-dampened sets. Director Marcel Carne starkly portrays the lonely souls, Jean and Nelly, as they attempt to escape their dark fates.Jean is an army deserter, played by the talented Jean Gabin, who we meet as he walks down the dark road toward the port city La Havre. It is along this road that he finds a little dog, which follows him for the rest of the film as if he were a small ray of hope that he can start a normal life. However, Jean disregards the dog and claims to own nothing. He abandons his identity in order to not be caught as an army deserter by symbolically killing himself which foreshadows his doomed destiny.Nelly, played by Michele Morgan, is trying to run away from her problems, but someone is always watching or waiting for her. The details of her life are as foggy as the setting, but she is just as doomed as Jean. Jean falls in love with her and tries to help her get away from her problems by running away to Venezuela with him, but Nelly may not be capable of leaving.Carne uses techniques like mise-en-scene that add meaning to every frame. This film will not brighten up a dark day for the audience, but it will leave someone pondering questions from this drama. I definitely recommend this film, while pessimistic, is also profound with great acting and a strong script.

I really enjoyed this movie, I think that the depiction of the traveling soldier was well played. In the beginning, there is a mysterious man that the soldier talks to who ends up offering him all of his clothes so that he can remain in hiding from the military. It is never stated, but we later see the man walking naked into the sea and never returning, leading us to believe that he had planned to "be taken by the sea." The allusion to what happened without actually showing it allows the audience to create their own story about what really happened to this mysterious and generous man.The somewhat cold soldier soon loosens up when he falls for a local girl; they end up spending much of their time together and we start to see the soldier's real character shine through his generous actions toward the girl.