Le Jour se lève (Daybreak) (1939)
Average Rating: 8.2/10
Reviews Counted: 8
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 1
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 1
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Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 938
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Movie Info
Marcel Carne and Jacques Prevert's classic of French poetic realism stars Jean Gabin in one of his most famous roles as Francois, a rough, barrel-chested loner who hides out in his apartment awaiting for the police to arrive. Francois has killed a man in a crime of passion, the slimy lothario Valentin (Jules Berry). As he listens in the darkness of his Normandy apartment to the police sirens closing in and getting louder, he recalls the two women that he loved -- Francoise (Jacqueline Laurent)
Sep 15, 2009
Cast
-
Jean Gabin
Francois -
Jules Berry
M. Valentin -
Arletty
Clara -
Jacqueline Laurent
Francoise -
Mady Berry
Janitor's Wife -
Jacques Baumer
Police Inspector -
Rene Genin
Janitor -
Rene Bergeron
Cafe Owner -
Bernard Blier
Gaston -
Arthur Devère
Gerbois -
Georges Douking
Blind Man -
Gabrielle Fontan
Lady on Stairs -
Germaine Lix
Singer -
Marcel Peres
Paulo -
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All Critics (9) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (7) | Rotten (1) | DVD (2)
Possibly the best of the Carné-Prévert films, certainly their collaboration at its most classically pure.
Top CriticThe pity of it all seems slightly forced, the melodramatics too obvious.
The screenplay is by Jacques Prevert, the most accomplished dialogist of the period, and the famous sets, with their overtones of German expressionism, are by Alexander Trauner.
Set convincingly on the streets and in the tenements, every frame here feels lived in.
A superb example of French poetic realism.
What brings this film into greatness is the absolutely pitch-perfect lucid performance by Gabin.
This is the best of the fatalistic dramas scripted by Prévert and directed by Carné, a doom-laden romance, heavier on atmosphere than tension, and made memorable by the performances.
Audience Reviews for Le Jour se lève (Daybreak)
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