Les Amants du Tage (1955)
Directed by Henri Verneuil

Film Review

Between Le Mouton à cinq pattes and Des gens sans importance, Armenian-born film director Achod Malakian, better known as Henri Verneuil, made this psychological melodrama.  Released on 16th March 1955, Les Amants du Tage is based on a Joseph Kessel novel.  The film is not the best known work in Verneuil's filmography, but it is for some one of his greatest unknown pieces.  The story is set in Lisbon and is about a former prisoner and a suspicious widow, whose love affair is threatened by past events.  It is interesting that, before the film's release in Portugal, the censors cut its runtime by 15 per cent. 

Certain sequences in the film have a striking beauty and reveal a genuine directing talent, most evidently in the scenes set in the sumptuous palaces and the busy streets.  With the assistance of Claude Pinoteau, Verneuil manages to make the city become a character in the story.  On the other hand, the natural scenery looks a little too touristy and some of the dialogue here seems dated and too literary.  After a slow-paced beginning (necessary to introduce the characters), the film soon grows on you and becomes riveting in its darker second part.

The film is the prefect vehicle for Françoise Arnoul, one of the most desirable sirens of the 50s and 60s, and she gives a characteristically subtle and sensual performance.  Co-star Daniel Gélin splendidly expresses his character's seemingly hopeless predicament, whilst the magnificent British actor Trevor Howard masterfully embodies the disturbing Inspector Lewis.  The supporting cast includes the versatile actor Marcel Dalio and sex-symbol of the 30s and 40s Ginette Leclerc (seen in Marcel Pagnol's La Femme du boulanger, H.G. Clouzot's Le Corbeau and Max Ophüls' Le Plaisir).  Georges Chamarat and the Portuguese singer Amalia Rodrigues (marvellously interpreting Barco Negro) complete an exemplary cast.  Even if Les Amants du Tage is not really Verneuil's usual style, it is still a gripping film which well deserves to be seen (it might even give you some ideas for your next holiday...).

Film Synopsis

After the war, Pierre Roubier returns home, optimistic about the future, only to find his wife in bed with another man.  In a moment of madness, Pierre shoots his wife's lover dead.  Arrested and tried for the murder, Pierre is given a light sentence on account of his impressive military record.  A few years later, Pierre is once again a free man and he goes to Portugal to start a new life.  He finds work as a taxi driver and one of his first clients is the young and wealthy widow Kathleen Dinver.  She has just arrived from London after an inquest into the mysterious death of her husband.  Because they both have something they would like to forget, Pierre and Kathleen feel able to confide in one another and they begin to fall in love.  Pierre soon discovers that Kathleen is being followed by Inspector Lewis of Scotland Yard.  Lewis is convinced that Kathleen had something to do with her husband's death...