Des gens sans importance (1955)
Directed by Henri Verneuil

Film Review

Although he is best remembered today for his stylish thrillers of the 1960s and '70s - Le Clan des Siciliens (1969), Peur sur la ville (1975) - the Armenian born director Henri Verneuil was adept in a whole range of genres including comedy and melodrama. Having directed several lively comedies with Fernandel - notably L'Ennemi public no 1 (1953) - Verneuil revealed a more sensitive side in his poignant melodrama Des gens sans importance depicting a fragile romance between an older man (Jean Gabin) and a woman who is young enough to be his daughter (Françoise Arnoul).

Whilst it is filmed in a more naturalistic manner, the film has something of the oppressive fatalistic mood of Gabin's pre-WWII films, such as Marcel Carné's Le Quai des brumes (1938). Here the threat comes not from nasty underworld villains but from the prejudice of a society that will not allow such a romance to endure. It is a scenario that is played out in some of Gabin's later films - in Le Désordre et la nuit (1958) he falls for Nadja Tiller, and in En cas de malheur (1958) he is tempted by Brigitte Bardot - but only in Verneuil's film does it have such a stark tragic dimension. Gabin's performance is one of finest, possibly the subtlest of his career, and Arnoul has never looked more alluring than she does here. Even when the story's outcome is all too easy to guess, the ending never fails to deliver an emotional wallop.

Film Synopsis

Jean Viard is a long-distance lorry driver who makes a habit of stopping off at a roadside inn run by his friend Barchandeau during his frequent excursions between Paris and Bordeaux.  One day around Christmas time Jean meets Coltilde, a new waitress at the inn, and instantly falls in love with her.  This is in spite of the fact that he is already married - to a sour-tempered old woman he can barely tolerate - and has three children.  Even though Jean is at least thirty years her senior, Clotilde is equally taken with him and the two are soon pursuing a love affair that is as tender as it is passionate.

All goes well until the day when Jean has a violent falling out with his foreman, after which he suddenly finds himself without work.  Concerned over what has happened to her lover, Clotilde makes her own way to Paris, but when she sees how dejected Jean is after losing his job she cannot bear to break to him the news that she is pregnant with his child.  Instead, she finds work as a maid in a hotel and contemplates having an abortion.  By now, Jean's wife has found out about his infidelity and the inevitable confrontation leads Jean to turn his back on his family forever.  After her abortion, Clotilde returns to Jean, although by now her health has taken a dramatic turn for the worse...