Asphalte (1959)
Directed by Hervé Bromberger

Film Review

Towards the end of the 1950s, French cinema had, to a large extent, become stale and predictable, consisting mainly of American-inspired thrillers, stodgy historical dramas, twee melodramas and uninspired low-budget comedies.   This particular applecart of lukewarm mediocrity was on the verge of being kicked over and trodden into the ground by a new generation of filmmaker which was determined to bring a fresh perspective to cinema - the Nouvelle Vague or French New Wave. Prior to this cultural tsunami, the calm shoreline of 1950s French cinema was tickled by the occasional small breaker which had little impact other than to presage the upheaval that was to come. One such film was Asphalte.

It may not be brilliant but Asphalte is memorable for a number of respects.  Firstly, it includes some elements of social realism, something which hadn't registered much in French cinema in spite of it being very noticeable in other European countries at the time - notably Italy and Great Britain.  More often than not, French cinema ignored the working class altogether or else depicted it in an idealised or highly caricatured way, a long way from the daily reality.

More significantly, the film goes out of its way to offer a convincing portrayal of the youth culture of the day, complete with loud music, wild partying and testosterone-charged fistfights - something else which French cinema seemed to have largely overlooked.  The film's director Hervé Bromberger may well have been influenced by American cinema, where youth culture was far better represented, most famously in Nicholas Ray's Rebel Without a Cause (1955).  Although Asphalte's subject matter does give it an appealing veneer of modernity, stylistically it takes very few risks and remains pretty much a conventional of 1950s melodrama, with bland characterisation and a plodding narrative with an all too predictable outcome. But at least it offers a glimmer of what was to come, both cinematically and in terms of changing social attitudes.

Film Synopsis

Being married to a rich and successful businessman does not guarantee happiness, as Nicole soon discovers.  Comfortable she may be, but she is bored with the never-ending round of excursions, business dinners and polite conversation with strangers.  When her husband Éric is away from home, she takes advantage of his absence to renew her acquaintance with a childhood friend, Michel.  Together, they return to the working class district where they grew up together.  This nostalgic journey risks turning into a nightmare when another of their friends, Gino, kills a man in a fight.  Sometimes it is best to forget the past...