Pourquoi viens-tu si tard? (1959)
Directed by Henri Decoin

Film Review

Between 1933 and 1964 Henri Decoin was an underestimated screenwriter and filmmaker but a happy Pygmalion before the New Wave period.  He usually alternates all kind of movie, from Simenon adaptations to historic pictures, espionage, crime or psychological dramas.  But his master's skill brings a quality stamp to each of his productions, with occasional masterpieces such as La Vérité sur Bébé Donge (1952).  Decoin can be seen as a director who was attracted to good stories but was less concerned with pursuing an artistic career.  Pourquoi viens tu si tard?, released on 6th May 1959, is no exception to this rule.  This drama portrays a lawyer who specialises in cases involving alcoholism and who tries to hide her own past as someone who was once addicted to alcohol.  This film is the one and only collaboration between Decoin and the remarkable French icon Michèle Morgan.  It is worth noting that in the same year (1959) the same actress will play an alcoholic in Robert Hossein's Les Scélerats.  Here Morgan serves the sentimental and dramatic plot with her usual brilliance, in a story anchored on a subject that is still highly relevant.

For the fourth and last time, Michèle Morgan is paired with her second husband, Henri Vidal, whose talent and good looks rapidly made him a star of French cinema in the 1950s. through such films as René Clément's Les Maudits (1947) and René Clair's Porte des lilas (1957).  Vidal died on the 10th December 1959, eight days before the release of his last film, Voulez vous danser avec moi?, which starred Brigitte Bardot.  In a secondary role is the great Claude Dauphin, who lends his talent in the part of reporter René Dargillière.  The cast also includes Francis Blanche and Marc Cassot.  Last, but by no means least, the score was written by Georges Garvarentz and singer Charles Aznavour, and the dialogue is provided by Michel Audiard.  Although all but forgotten today, Pourquoi viens-tu si tard? attracted an audience of 2.1 million and is due to be released on DVD in January 2013.

Film Synopsis

Catherine Ferrier is a well-known lawyer who specialises in cases involving alcoholism.  One evening, she meets photographer Walter Hermelin, who has just been involved in a minor car accident.  To repay her for driving him to his destination, Walter agrees to help Catherine obtain the photographs she needs to defend her ex-lover, the journalist René Dargillière, who is on trial against a gang of wine smugglers.  Catherine expects this to be a scandalous case but is surprised when it ends up revealing something of her own past...