Panique (1947)
Directed by Julien Duvivier

Film Review

After his largely lacklustre stint in Hollywood during World War II (which included the doomed Jean Gabin vehicle The Impostor), director Julien Duvivier returned to France a changed man, and this is clearly reflected in his first French film after the war, Panique.  Disillusioned with the mawkish tendency of American cinema, with its obligatory 'Happy End', Duvivier set out to make a film that better reflected the times he lived in.  To that end, he adapted a novel by the popular Belgian writer Georges Simenon, a story of unrequited love and cruel betrayal. Duvivier had previously directed another notable Simenon adaptation, La Tête d'un homme (1933), with Harry Baur as Jules Maigret.

Darker in tone and more pessimistic than even the director's poetic realist films of the 1930s (La Bandera, Pépé le Moko) Panique takes a positive delight in showing us the worst in human nature - as would some of the director's later films, including Voici le temps des assassins (1956). The lead female character (played by Viviane Romance, an actress used to playing conscienceless vamps) is portrayed both as a beautiful ingenue and as a heartless schemer with a talent for guilt-free duplicity. But even more sickening than Romance's generous serving of venality is the grotesque example of pack mentality that shows itself in the latter part of the film, where supposedly civilised human beings revert to their bestial primeval selves and become no more than wild animals lunging after their kill.

Nicolas Hayer's noirish photography lends much to the film's unceasing bleakness, although Duvivier's mise-en-scène lacks the inspired touch of his pre-WWII films. The lead role was a gift of a part for Michel Simon, who brings a frightening reality to his portrayal of the persecuted M. Hire (the fact that the actor frequently attended brothels and accumulated a massive collection of pornographic articles shows just how close were the actor and the character he played on screen). This was one of Simon's last great roles before a crippling injury (caused by a beard dye) caused him to be less active in his profession. It is interesting to compare Duvivier's darkly prosaic film with Patrice Leconte's more lyrical interpretation of the same Simenon novel, Monsieur Hire, which dwells more on the voyeuristic and sensual aspects of the story.

Film Synopsis

Recently released from prison, an attractive young woman Alice meets up with her lover Alfred.  The latter, a vicious crook, has murdered an old woman at a fairground.  The only witness was a reclusive old man named Monsieur Hire, who is secretly in love with Alice.  Alfred and Alice contrive to divert suspicion on to Monsieur Hire...