Le Cap de l'espérance (1951)
Directed by Raymond Bernard

Film Review

After the handsomely stylised Maya (1949) it is surprising that Raymond Bernard should follow this with a film noir made on far more traditional lines, one that is virtually indistinguishable from classic American noir of the period.  With most of the action confined to a few interior locations, Le Cap de l'Espérance (also known by its Italian title La Nostra pelle) has a hard job disguising its origins as a stage play (Jean-José Lacour's Notre Peau) but thanks to Bernard's confident and imaginative direction it makes an effective pastiche of American film noir, leaving practically no cliché unturned in its attempt to give French audiences of the time what they presumably wanted.

Slick though the film is (the lighting and camerawork are particularly impressive, contributing almost everything to the mood and tension of the piece), it is formulaic to a tee and only Edwige Feuillère's character, the morally ambiguous bar owner Lyna, manages to transcend the familiar noir archetype.  Franck Villard's two-timing Bob is virtually impossible to engage with, as the actor plays him as a one-dimensional heel (the script preventing him from doing otherwise), and the fate of Cosetta Greco's Minnie is far too well sign-posted to have any real impact.  It is Feuillère's magnificent performance alone that elevates the film above the mundane (the final shot of her walking on a desolate seashore is one of the most haunting in Bernard's entire oeuvre), but after the eerily oniric Maya, one of the director's most inspired films, Le Cap de l'Espérance can only come as a bitter let down.

Film Synopsis

Bob Legeay, a failed lawyer, ends up in a Mediterranean port where he becomes mixed up with a gang of crooks whilst sponging off his mistress Lyna, an older woman who runs a popular bar in the locality.  Tired of being a gigolo, Bob plans to elope with his new girlfriend, Minnie, the daughter of one of his crooked friends, after the latter have stolen a large quantity of gold from the safe of a wealthy ship owner.  The robbery goes far from planned.  One of the crooks is wounded and captured by the police as his associates make their getaway with their hard won loot.  Although she soon realises Bob's intentions, Lyna cannot bring herself to betray him.  As the police close in on them, the criminals agree that Lyna must be silenced...