Les Amants maudits (1952)
Directed by Willy Rozier

Film Review

Les Amants maudits is an overt pastiche of American film noir circa 1950, and its influences (most noticeably Joseph H. Lewis's Gun Crazy) are all too easily spotted.  The film is loosely based on the life of Pierre Loutrel - better known as Pierrot le fou (the inspiration for a film by Jean-Luc Godard) - who, between 1941 and 1944, was France's most notorious criminal (in fact he was the country's first Public Enemy Number One).  Director Willy Rozier is good at imitating what has gone before but he contributes nothing new to what, by now, had become a hackneyed genre.  Robert Berri is a tough but pretty uncharismatic chief villain (Scarface without charm) who ends up being eclipsed by Danielle Roy, darkly sensual as the obligatory femme fatale.  Some long and totally misplaced musical interludes badly interrupt the flow of the narrative, and the faux documentary framing device adds little if anything.  The film does, however, distinguish itself from many French thrillers of this era through its gritty realism and occasional bursts of extreme violence.  Alas, like much of Rozier's oeuvre, Les Amants maudits feels second hand and somewhat undercooked.

Film Synopsis

Paul leads a humdrum life as a waiter in a café but, being a fan of hard-boiled thriller novels, he fantasises about becoming a cold-blooded gangster.  One day, his daydreams cross over into reality when he picks up a gun and shoots dead two unsuspecting customers.  A young woman, Jackie, is impressed by Paul's murderous exploits and decides to tag along with him as he goes on the run, hotly pursued by the police.  By now, Paul feels as if he is living out one of his fictional adventures for real, and he has never known such a thrill as he goes around, robbing and pillaging like a real-life Edward G. Robinson.  But the police are closing in on him and it is only a matter of time before his luck will run out.  His first setback is when Jackie allows herself to be captured by the police.  With no other way out, she agrees to help in bringing about Paul's arrest.  But, just when she is in a position to betray her lover and ensure he is brought to justice Jackie realises that she cannot go through with it.  Paul's bloody adventure ends as it must - in glorious failure...