Victor (1951)
Directed by Claude Heymann

Film Review

With Marcel Carné's La Marie du port (1950) proving to be a substantial box office hit in France, Jean Gabin once again found stardom beckoning, after a decade in which he came very close to passing into obscurity.  Gabin's next film, Victor, offers a similar scenario of a middle-aged man falling for a much younger woman, adapted from a stage play by Henri Bernstein.  On this occasion, Gabin is partnered with rising star Brigitte Auber, who had previously featured in Jacques Becker's Rendez-vous de juillet (1949) and would later be recruited by Alfred Hitchcock for a substantial role in To Catch a Thief (1955).

The Gabin we see here is scarcely recognisable as the romantic idealist of his pre-WWII years.  Well into middle-age, somewhat stouter, this new Gabin carried something of the disillusionment of post-war France, reluctant to trust others, reluctant to pursue his dreams, in short a Teflon-coated pragmatist.  As the decade wore on, Gabin's screen image would become even tougher, even less romantic, so that by the 1960s he came to look like the godfather of French cinema.   In the early 1950s, some of Gabin's erstwhile boyish charm and gentility remained, allowing the actor to bring to a touching vulnerability to his portrayals of men hoping to reboot their lives in early middle-age, often with the help of an attractive young woman.  Victor may not be Gabin's most distinguished screen outing but it is a film with considerable charm, directed with skill by Claude Heymann and well-performed by an admirable cast.  Françoise Christophe deserves a special mention for her subtly moving portrayal of a woman who puts material comfort before passion, and lives to regret it.

Film Synopsis

When he leaves prison, Victor refuses to bear a grudge against his old friend Marc, the man whose dodgy business dealings but him there.  He isn't even prepared to steal his wife, Françoise, even though he still carries a torch for her.  He just wants to start a new life and put his past worries behind him.  Unfortunately, Françoise has by now come to realise how much Victor loves her and intends to divorce Marc so that they can marry.  Victor manages to dissuade her and begins to fall for a young typist, Marianne.  When Marc gets himself into another financial scandal, he opts to commit suicide, freeing Françoise to marry Victor...