Panique

In a tight-knit Parisian neighbourhood, a murder has taken place. Gossip leads to the belief that the murderer is Monsieur Hire (Michel Simon), an unsociable outsider.

As murder mysteries go, this one is unique and fascinating. The murderer is revealed early in the film. What takes place from then on is even more intriguing than most other murder stories.

Most fascinating is the portrayal of Hire - both as played by Simon and as written by Julien Duvivier (the film's director) and Charles Spaak. One can easily see why he is unlikeable in various scenes; yet, he is admirable for acting confidently and morally when he is unfairly treated with contempt by those who have much less character than he has. While anti-Semitism does not seem to be behind the mistrust of Hire, he is further isolated as he is the only Jew in the neighbourhood. The viewer also learns of Hire's isolation beginning in childhood even within his own family.

These opposite feelings toward this character are part of the richness of this story. While we feel great sympathy for him by the conclusion, a shocking revelation at the end leaves the viewer with other feelings: it seems that in Hire's extreme isolation from community standards, his actions and inactions contributed to his own problems.

There is also a theme about loners that goes beyond Hire. Two other characters seem to possess this trait. One is a clever detective who is very observant and is not in the least swayed by mob mentality. The other is the murder victim herself as the tributes to her mention that she more or less kept to herself.

As a director, Duvivier has done a superb job in keeping the suspense alive leading to a shocking crowd scene at the end that has culminated as the result of a vile mob mindset looking for a scapegoat. While there is so much to praise about "Panique", its greatest asset is how much it leaves one thinking after its completion. - dbamateurcritic

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS:

1) Directing by Julien Duvivier 2) Screenplay by Julien Duvivier and Charles Spaak (based on the novel "Les Fiançailles de M. Hire" by Georges Simenon 3) Acting by Michel Simon.

This is a pretty monumental film, impressing with clarity of picture, busyness of street action and immediacy of plot development right from the start. Indeed this, beautifully photographed film engages from the beginning and roars along from scene to scene and image to image to inform in the most economical of ways before gradually slowing down as the story deteriorates into something quite terrible. Viviane Romance plays the leading lady, who is anything but, with great style but is this true love? Or is this sheer greed or even true hatred that leads to such panic. The sad, suspenseful ending reminded me of Frankenstein's monster, Quasimodo and even poor old King Kong but the true aim here by the writer Simenon in his original book is surely his own country folk and their disgraceful behaviour during WW2. Frighteningly effective cinema.

Julien Duvivier was a very capable director who left some fine films--Carnet de bal is one of my favourites, and La belle equipe is a pleasure--but I never thought of him as the equal of Renoir, Clair or Carne. Panique is a solid work that satisfies us; the performances rise to greatness with Simon and Bernard, and the mise-en-scene is very assured. The only cavil I have is with the crowd scenes: they are just not very interesting and do not increase our involvement with the story. Simenon's novel is a character study, not a work of sociology; we don't need to know what the crowd wants.

Michel Simon was a great actor and here he's at his peak. Dryly humorous, love-struck, violent and tough, it's a memorable performance. Viviane Romance was the great vamp of French pre- and post war film, and she gives a lot of vitality to Alice, the girl who gives herself completely to the worthless Alfred. Max Dalban as the bigoted butcher has some very effective scenes. Finally Paul Bernard is splendid as the thuggish Alfred. He made Madeleine Renaud's life miserable in Lumiere d'ete, he dumped Maria Casares in Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (and was paid back royally for his stupidity): truly, Bernard was one of the great stars of the time.

Returning to France after spending the war in Hollywood, Duvivier bravely tackled this Simenon story about a persecuted (Jewish) outsider accused of a crime he did not commit. The idea of scapegoating, of minorities being denounced to the authorities, must have been a sensitive one in France just after the occupation. The protagonist, Monsieur Hire, is played by the great Michel Simon (why do boxers make great actors?), and the lovers who frame him are physically attractve yet morally repellant. The suspense at the end will mess you up. There's a gorgeous love scene before a church in the snow. The resolution has the same sense of bleak irony as LES DIABOLIQUES - evil triumphs, then is punished. A bit like World War Two?

With an interesting story and some good suspense, this mystery/thriller works pretty well despite a lack of any particularly appealing characters. At the beginning, it sets up a complicated situation, and builds at a good pace to lead up to a tense finale. It has quite a low-budget look to it, but with a story of this kind, sometimes that actually fits in rather well.

There is a lot going on right from the beginning. In a neighborhood where a murder has just been committed, there is a young woman coming home from prison, seeking out the lover for whom she took the blame. There is also an unpopular and eccentric resident whom no one can figure out. These and other characters soon get involved in a lengthy cat-and-mouse game that keeps things interesting the rest of the way. It would be even more compelling if at least some of the characters were a little easier to sympathize with, but the story itself is enough to hold your attention. One slight drawback - not a fault of the original film-makers - is that the titles (at least on the English version that seems to be available) are very light and often hard to read, so you miss a few things, unless by chance your French is sharp enough to catch everything.

Overall, it's above average for its genre. If you enjoy film noir or older thrillers, and don't mind a low-budget style, this one should be worth a look.