A Noite da Encruzilhada

Georges Simenon once claimed to have written 60-80 pages a day and to have bedded 10,000 women. Should anyone deserve to be included in a list of famous Belgians then it is surely he!

His masterful novels with their psychological insights and ambivalent characters have enriched the world of film immeasurably and this surreal opus of Jean Renoir marks a first screen adaptation and the first personification of Jules Maigret in the form of Jean's brother Pierre.

By all accounts the author was none too pleased with the finished result but sufficiently impressed with Pierre's portrayal to hope that he would reprise the role in 'Un Tete d'un Homme' which was eventually played by the magnificent Harry Baur under Julien Duvivier's direction.

The somewhat convoluted plot here is of secondary importance to the all-pervading atmosphere of doom and gloom, heightened by exterior night shots shrouded in fog and mist with seemingly endless rainfall. The bizarre edits together with jumps and bumps in the narrative flow have been attributed to missing reels, lack of funds, Jean Renoir's excessive drinking or combinations thereof.

In spite of it all or perhaps because of it, this oddity remains both absorbing and entertaining. This is Pierre Renoir's first major film role and his Maigret is mainly required to hang around waiting for one of the crooks to make a mistake whilst exuding the air of menace that was to be so effective in this actor's later villainous roles. The most fascinating aspect of the piece is his ambivalent relationship with sluttish, cocaine-addicted Else played by the enigmatic Winna Winifried whose memorable performance provides an unique take on the 'femme fatale'.

Where does the film stand in this director's output? The quality of his films throughout the 1930's is unequalled and many of these have long since been regarded as timeless classics. This particular film, although influential in the development of Film Noir and a must for Renoir completists, remains, for this viewer at any rate, a relatively minor entry.

Renoir certainly deserves his reputation as one of the greatest directors of cinema history, and this little-seen film adds an important chapter to his filmography. An engrossing and compelling mystery tale based on a novel by Simenon, this film allows Renoir to employ his characteristically poetic, expressive use of camera and setting in unexpected and provocative contexts. In addition, his use of sync sound (decidedly against the grain in Europe at this time) works well in the gritty locations of the story. As always with Renoir's films, the acting is of the highest quality - with brother Pierre playing the Inspector - while the film features subtle and intricate characterizations and themes that are brought to life with the director's keen sense of human behavior, motivations, and passions.

I was surprised at how awkward, amateurish and even inept this early Renoir film was. Admittedly, there are moments of greatness where one sees the later master, particularly in some closer shots, where one can see fine, detailed, subtle acting. But for the most part of the film, this is a clumsily executed work of poor technical quality, and shaky narrative control. A sequence such as the night-time car chase is technically very brave for this period, but this doesn't excuse it for its poor realisation; one can be sure that Murnau would never have accepted such shoddy work. If one compares LA NUIT DU CARREFOUR with other films made in 1932, such as QUEEN CHRISTINA or GRAND HOTEL, one can see how inelegant and primitive this film's mise-en-scene is. I write this negative review merely to share with other people my disappointment; I travelled to see this film in a rare screening at London's NFT, but felt that I shouldn't have bothered.

Carrefour has been considered a precursor to film noir and it can be agreed that the film is all about atmosphere. Renoir uses long sweeping pans to explore the space. There is a consciousness with regards to constructing depth in the mise-en-scene. Interestingly groups of characters are organized and move around in this film slightly differently from Grande Illusion or Regle, and is more similar to Cordelier. If theses differences can be connected to two overall stylistics systems for Renoir's work, with one being more focused on psychology (I realize Renoir spoke vehemently against it), then perhaps Carrefour can be understood as a bit of a hybrid between Renoir's two dominant stylistic systems. In Carrefour, ample closeups and angular shots support this claim while a lack of mobile framing (on interiors certainly) goes further to promote this thesis. Closeups on particular objects (cigarette pack) are ambiguously pov and hint at a transcendental position (not typical of Renoir) and is perhaps explainable through the film being an adaptation of a Simenon book. Again, Renoir finds novel uses for synch sound with alternating sound design and sound used through a sense of privilege. The settings are beautiful and the nighttime scenes become eerie and displaced (the displacement is all the more provocative when piecing together a film that is missing a reel). There is a Renoirian dilemma at play in this Simenon story and Renoir's use of polyvocal systems (Illusion, Carosse) underscore it. Carrefour is not unobtrusively political in its presentation of foreigners (Danes) being blamed for the murder of a Jew. A theme of separation and disconnect permeates those 'reasons' that people have for doing what they do. Pierre Renoir as Maigret performs perfecting in navigating the layers of the drama with subtle intent and sharpened will. The employment of great depth of field (lattice of door frame, staircase through doorway) plays more on this psychological disconnect of motives for action than it does for constructing space unobtrusively. That is to say, the direction is willful and therefore driven by auteur psychology and defined by construction of transcendental subject positions. Convergence is a force that surges forward to counter the themes of separation and disconnect. Class structure comes colliding into a single plane (and for this reviewer) reveals more about what holds everyone together in unity as opposed to toying with issues of servitude/mastery. Eventually, the pace slows and the atmosphere dominates. The foggy night and dim light provide a nice juxtaposition to the possibility of elucidation on the plot of the film. Some have commented that Night at the Crossroads is impossible to make sense of (without the full working print), but perhaps even with a complete print it would defy any logical and straightforward readings.

This is a wonderful early look on film based on a crime novel by Georges Simenon. The novel itself is uncharacteristically atmospheric and deliberately unfocused and this was handled beautifully by Jean Renoir with his fog-enshrouded sets and atmosphere. It is missing a reel, as I understand, but the novel itself has sufficient ambiguity to forgive any omission of that sort. The acting, with its melange of accents is fascinating in its own way. The visuals win the day. It's beautiful to look at, exotic and definitely a one-of-a-kind of its genre and hardly "inept".

Curtis Stotlar