Sign of the Lion

A film set in Paris in August. Pierre is an American musician. He lives in Paris, does not really work and gets by on debt. One day he learns that an aunt has died and left him a large inheritance. That same evening he throws a party for his friends and spends the last money he has. Then the news is corrected: the inheritance went to someone else. It is August. Paris is empty; everyone has gone away, his friends are not in the city and he is put out of his hotel room. He is left with a violin and a few coins. The rest of the film is in the street. Pierre walks, sits, looks for someone he knows and finds nobody. His shoe gives way, hunger starts and the city becomes a harder place by the day. The narrative does not explain the fall and does not ask for pity. The camera walks beside the man, and that is all. It is Éric Rohmer's first feature. It could not be released for a long time after it was made and stands far from his later work: little talk, much street. Jess Hahn plays Pierre. Van Doude and Michèle Girardon are in the cast. An interesting production for anyone who likes the French New Wave and narratives built on a city. For a viewer expecting dialogue, the film runs almost silently.