Remorques

Seas cover seven tenths of the terrestrial globe and have inspired painters, writers, composers and not a few film-makers and this adaptation of a novel by Roger Vercel is one of the very best of its type.

Considered by the French to be among their most gifted directors, Jean Grémillon is fated to be little known abroad except to a coterie of cinéphiles. He had envisioned a far more realistic storm sequence to be filmed in Brittany but this was deemed impracticable for health and safety reasons and he was obliged to shoot in UFA's studios at Billancourt. Nonetheless this sequence still comes off pretty well. Filming came to a grinding halt with the outbreak of war and it was not completed and released until 1941 by which time its two stars had gone to Hollywoodland.

Navigating the stormy waters of desire are Jean Gabin and Michéle Morgan, one of Cinema's most memorable couples. On-screen chemistry is hard to define but their deep fondness for each other off-screen is evident whilst her ethereal quality is perfectly allied to his earthiness. As his wife is Madeleine Renaud who was later to star in Grémillon's excellent but underrated 'Le Ciel est a vous'. Renowned as a stage actress her sporadic appearances in film represent quality over quantity. Fernand Ledoux makes the most of a thankless role and if you blink you'll miss an uncredited Alain Cuny.

Stunning cinematography by one of his nation's finest, Armand Thirard, powerful score by Roland-Manuel whilst at the insistence of Grémillon and Gabin, the screenplay has been entrusted to Jacques Prévert whose poetic/realist style is perfectly suited to this tale of doomed love and the forces of Nature.

Grémillon's ambitious projects were constantly thwarted by the constraints of commercial cinema but his comparatively small output is a legacy to be treasured.

A simple story. at first sigh, too simple. because it could seems be well known. but not the love story is the axis. but the atmosphere. the performances. the ocean. the mixture of duty, romance and clash against reality. the strange beauty of the meet between Morgan and Gabin after "Quai des brues"). and, sure, the moving end. a film who remains bitter -seductive against the decades. for its remarkable simplicity. for admirable performances. and for reasons escaping to precise definition.

... from screenwriter Jacques Prevert and director Jean Gremillon. Jean Gabin stars as Andre Laurent, a rescue tugboat captain living and working in a stormy seaside village. He's 10 years married to the pleasant Yvonne (Madeleine Renaud), but he's become a bit bored and complacent with their union. On his latest rescue outing, his crew brings aboard a woman from a stranded ship. Her name is Catherine (Michele Morgan), and she's very unhappy in her marriage with the other ship's captain, a sleazy crook that she has grown to detest. Despite their better judgement, Andre and Catherine begin seeing each other.

Gabin is my favorite actor in French cinema, and this film is another example of why, as he deftly assays his role with a naturalism and honesty that eschews big showy moments but still ably projects the necessary emotion for the scene. Renaud is also good as the fragile wife, and Morgan is outstanding as the woman trapped in terrible circumstances. Director Gremillon shots a number of scenes in a visually striking manner, although the excessive use of obvious miniatures in the ships-at-stormy-seas scenes takes one out of the action a bit. Still, for a film shot over a period of three years due to a world war interrupting things, it's remarkable they accomplished what they did. Recommended.

The making of "Remorques" began in 1939,as a follow-up to the excellent "l'étrange Monsieur Victor",and because of the Occupation,was released two years later.That also explains the length of the movie (hardly 80 minutes in the broadcast versions).

It's a simple story:the plot involves a tough sailor,Gabin,torn between two women ,the frail Madeleine Renaud,Gremillon's favorite actress (she was featured in all of his four movies of the 1938-1943 period),and the disillusioned Michèle Morgan (with whom he had teamed up in Carné's famous "quai des brumes").

The banal plot matters much less than the atmosphere;the star of the movie is the Ocean:you can hear,feel or see it ceaselessly along the viewing.This ocean which nobody can tame,which breaks willpower.For man must work and woman must weep..

SPOILERS: The ending climaxes the movie.A distraught incredulous Gabin gazes at his dead wife whilst a lugubrious siren desperately wails there down by the ocean.Then the man,forgetting his plight,walks across the harbor to come to the rescue of the boat in distress:you can hear voices chanting prayers for the dead as he makes his way through darkness .This ending has the strength of an epic Victor Hugo poem.

Andre Laurent, the captain of a tugboat, married Yvonne ten years ago. She has a heart disease but does not want to tell him. She dreams he quits his job so they can live quietly. One night, during a sea rescue, he meets Catherine. She wants to leave her husband, the captain of the rescued ship.

Jean Grémillon (1901-1959) seems to be a director who knows what he wants. He started this film as the war began (or just prior), and despite France being taken over by Germany, and having to reshoot some footage, he kept at it. And what we get is actually a really good movie. Sometimes I think Criterion releases their eclipse sets just to make a point of saying France, Japan, etc still had movies during World War II, and is not necessarily concerned about how influential or important they may be.

This one looks beautiful and surely had an impact. It reminds me of the sort of cinematography we got from the val Lewton-produced films.