Jenny Lamour

A murder investigation set in Paris. Jenny is a music hall singer. She wants to get on and knows who she has to see for it. Maurice is her husband and her pianist. Jealous, angry, and constantly checking on her. An old businessman takes an interest in Jenny. One evening she decides to go to him. Maurice finds out. He takes his gun and leaves the house. That night the man is found dead. From there the film turns into a story of interrogation. Everyone has their own version, everyone is hiding something, and all three are trying to protect each other. Dora is a photographer. She is Jenny's friend and has her own account of that night; she is the film's most fragile character. Inspector Antoine runs the investigation. Tired, coarse, sardonic, and living at home with an adopted son. What the narrative is interested in is not murder but loneliness: in its last section the film looks less at the crime than at how alone these three or four people are. The scenes at the police station are ordinary. The rooms are untidy, the officers are bored, and the investigation runs like a routine. There is a ban behind the film. The director had been barred from working because of his previous film, and this is the first work of his return. The matter of the adaptation is interesting. The source novel was out of print and could not be found anywhere; the screenplay was written from what could be remembered of the book, so the film barely resembles it. Louis Jouvet, Suzy Delair, Bernard Blier and Simone Renant are in the cast. Henri-Georges Clouzot directed and co-wrote. Who it is for: anyone who likes classical French crime films and character-led investigation. Who it is not for: anyone looking for a puzzle; who the killer is is not the film's real concern and the solution arrives almost by chance.