Une gueule comme la mienne

In the field of French suspense thrillers , Frederic Dard was only second to Boileau/Narcejac in the fifties : both "le monte-charge" and "toi,le venin" should be considered classics of the genre .Unlike his colleagues, he did direct his own movie and it was his only attempt at a film based one of his books.

I have not read the book ,but the screenplay looks like a play, for there are few characters and the action almost entirely takes place in Jacques 's luxury apartment .

"Une gueule comme la mienne "(= a mug like mine) aka "rendez-vous " aka " Gestapo VS X" is an estimable movie : the historic context is not very convincing but Dard wanted to focus on psychological suspense ; the principals ,which is rare,kept their first names :Paul, Claire and Jacques.

Paul Guers who was already a resistant fighter in Duvivier's highly superior "Marie-Octobre " (which was also a drama in camera), is the handsome smug rebel ( but his stand against the occupant is not very convincing) ;Claire Maurier is the femme fatale; the best is Jacques Duby ,par excellence the coward , the wash out ,the loser of the era (see also " Thérèse Raquin").

Although a beginner in the movie direction field, Dard shows his usual flair for film noir:the opening is a good example of subjective camera:the POV shot is ideal to depict the last moment of condemned person about to be executed; the scene in the cinema, for its simplicity, gives goose pimples ; the small coffin (this gift from the resistants was historically accurate ) and the death of the collaborator in his garage are effective .And that collaborator ,a failed journalist , found an opportunity to shine in the occupation days ; and probably not as dumb as he appears for his "reworkings " of Paul's articles make the headlines:besides ,the intruder is quite naive:how could he believe his patriotic articles would be published in a newspaper which had sold itself to the Nazis ?

But the screenplay is gripping , forget history and you have a decent thriller.

.. and just got edited on DVD in France by the editor specialist in French cinema. After a good start with fine camera tricks, the story gets real slow and not exciting with the appearance of Claire Maurier, supposed to be a Femme Fatale but isn't very convincing. Paul Guers is much better than in the weak "Mourir d'aimer". Just a curiosity.