L'air de Paris (1954)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Marcel Carné

Writers:

Marcel Carné (screenplay)
Jacques Sigurd (dialogue)

Release Date:

24 September 1954 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

City Name In Title | Paris | Based On Novel

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Jean Gabin	...	Victor Le Garrec
Arletty	...	Blanche Le Garrec
Roland Lesaffre	...	André Ménard
Marie Daëms	...	Corinne
Maria-Pia Casilio	...	Maria Pozzi (as Maria Pia Casilio)
Ave Ninchi	...	Mme. Pozzi
Simone Paris	...	Chantal
Marcelle Praince	...	Vieille dame
Mathilde Casadesus	...	Voyageuse (as Mathilde Casadessus)
Maurice Sarfati	...	Jojo
Lucien Raimbourg	...	Hospital worker
Sébastien Ferrer	...	Boxer
Legendre	...	Boxer
Streicher	...	Boxer
Roger Michelot	...	Coach

Also Known As:

Air of Paris (International: English title)
Aria di Parigi (Italy)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | West Germany:16 (nf)

Filming Locations:

Paris Studios Cinéma, Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France

Company:

Del Duca Films

A curiosity, well worth seeing

This was the last movie that Jean Gabin and Arletty made together for Carné, the absence of Jacques Prévert as screenwriter (as he was on Le Jour Se lève) shows, the plot is rather confused and indecisive. Nevertheless, the photography on location in 1950s Paris is beautiful, many shots look like Brassai photographs, and the climactic scene in the seedy local boxing-ring has some of the same atmosphere as the great scenes in the popular theatre in Carné's masterpiece, "Les Enfants du Paradis". Arletty, by then over 50, is experimenting with playing a less glamorous, rather frumpy part, but she is still fascinating to watch. The thrill is in the ambiguous relationship between Gabin, as the ageing boxing coach, and his blond, sometimes hysterical protégé. There is an extraordinary scene in which he goes to get him back, when the boy has run away and is living in a run-down Algerian hostel. It isn't a great film, on the level of Hotel du nord or Les Portes de La Nuit, but it is well worth seeing for anyone curious about the French cinema in the period between the Occupation and the beginning of the Nouvelle Vague. It is available on video in France.