Dédée d'Anvers (1948)
Directed by Yves Allégret

Film Review

Dédée d'Anvers is the film that launched the career of Simone Signoret, establishing her in the kind of role for which she is probably best known, that of the morally ambiguous, devastatingly sensual femme fatale. Prior to this Signoret had distinguished herself with a notable supporting part in Marcel Blistène's  Macadam (1946) but it was only through her early collaborations with her then husband Yves Allégret - Dédée d'Anvers and Manèges (1950) - that her career took off.  In the early years of her film career Signoret was one of the most alluring of French actresses - no one was better equipped to play the part of the prostitute, unfaithful wife or scheming hussy and she was soon sought after by some of the finest film directors of her day.

Dédée d'Anvers was also an important jumping off point for its director.  Yves Allégret had previously worked on some inconsequential comedies and a mediocre war film Les Démons de l'aube (1946), but it was Dédée d'Anvers that first brought him credibility as a filmmaker.  The film is based on a novel by Henri La Barthe, whose book Pépé le Moko had been famously adapted for the cinema by Julien Duvivier in 1937. Allégret's main inspiration was Marcel Carné's film Le Quai des brumes (1938), whose influence can be felt both in the mist-shrouded port setting and the ensemble of decidedly seedy characters.  Yves Allégret  and his faithful screenwriter Jacques Sigurd took the poetic realist style of Carné's early films and developed this into something that is much closer to contemporary American film noir, showing a darker, far less romantic side to human nature.  This is as noticeable in Dédée d'Anvers as it is in their later collaborations, Une si jolie petite plage (1949) and Manèges (1950).

With its familiar tale of infidelity and revenge, Dédée d'Anvers offers few surprises, except for its extremely nasty denouement.  The cool way in which the heroine and her friend exact a fitting retribution for the most cowardly of crimes would have sent a shockwave through any audience at the time, and it is still pretty shocking today.The film's almost relentlessly bleak tone was in keeping with the mood of the time and has a far more bitter and cynical edge to it than previous poetic realist films.  A savage fight sequence near the start of the film reinforces this impression and seems to acknowledge that the recent experience of WWII had somehow legitimised the portrayal of violence in cinema. Another example of auteur daring is a subjective sequence which shows Dédée's viewpoint as she descends a staircase, to emphasise her present sense of entrapment (in a sado-masochistic relationship with an exploitative bully) and the possibility of escape to something better.  Jean Bourgoin's atmospheric cinematography also deserves a favourable mention, as this adds a great deal to the stifling sense of oppression and foreboding which persists throughout the film, like a suffocating weblike mist.

Whilst the film has some noticeable weaknesses - the characters are a little two-dimensional, the plot too reliant on cliché and contrivance - it is imaginatively directed and supremely well-served by an exceptional pool of acting talent.  Even though Signoret dominates the film with her unbeatable charisma and earthy beauty, we can still appreciate the sterling contributions from her co-stars Bernard Blier, Marcel Dalio and Marcello Pagliero.  Dalio is particularly memorable in this film as the rather vicious pimp who comes to a very sticky end.  Pagliero struggles to make his thinly sketched character convincing but Blier, as ever, makes the most of what he is given and works particularly well alongside Signoret - so well in fact that he would star opposite her in Allégret's next film but one, Manèges (1950).

Film Synopsis

The busy Belgian port of Antwerp is a haven for gangsters, pimps and traffickers.  Sailors, tired after their long stretch at sea, come ashore in search of liquor and female company, both of which Monsieur René generously supplies at his popular bar. Dédée is a René's hostess, an attractive piece of ornamentation that helps to lure the men into his drinking establishment.  Dédée's boyfriend Marco is also her pimp, as well as the bar's rough bouncer.  He is a cruel and unscrupulous louse of a man, the kind that no one could fail to despise.  Even Dédée has come to loathe him, although she is unable to break free of the hold he has over her.  Then comes the day when Francesco, a handsome Italian sailor, enters Monsieur René's bar.  He and Dédée are instantly attracted towards one another and an intense romance ensues.  The prostitute decides to give up her profession and leave Antwerp with her new lover on his boat.  Marco is not prepared to part so readily with his most valuable asset, so he resolves to thwart Dédée's escape, by whatever means he can...