When You Read This Letter

Jean-Pierre Melville's third feature and the only commissioned job of his career. Thérèse is preparing to enter a convent when her parents are killed in an accident. She cancels her plan and returns to her younger sister Denise. Denise meets a mechanic named Max, a man who takes women easily, and what follows follows. Denise attempts suicide. Thérèse's solution is to ask Max to marry Denise. He pretends to accept, intending to get the elder sister instead. Thérèse sees it and still tries to reform him. What is interesting is the distance between this and the cinema Melville is known for. There is no crime here, no film noir, no silent men in hats; there is a family melodrama. He never claimed the film and rated it low among his own work. Juliette Gréco plays Thérèse and Philippe Lemaire plays Max. An interesting detour for anyone curious about Melville's complete filmography and for admirers of French melodrama in the 1950s. For a viewer who comes to Melville for the crime films, this one carries none of his familiar marks.