Les jeux sont faits

and very true to the book! the actress who plays Eve is wonderful (you'll cheer her on), but Pierre is a little too old. the pain of the characters is captured beautifully in the dialogue. see if you can find this movie. it's worth it.

The film starts with wealthy Micheline Presle (Eva) living her final moments as she is poisoned by evil husband Fernand Fabre (André). At the same time, revolutionary leader Marcello Pagliero (Pierre) is shot dead by a betrayer. Both these characters pass into the next world where they are free to do as they wish. It isn't long before they fall in love and they are given a chance to return to the land of the living for 24 hours to prove their love for each other. However, they both have issues to clear up once they become mortal. If they can overcome these, they will know if they are destined to be with each other.

I like the theme that this film explores, I like how the afterlife is portrayed and I like the story. So, guess what – I recommend the film. The cast are good, perhaps Pagliero overacts in a couple of spots, but so what. Last time I passed into the afterlife, it was exactly like this with the living and dead inhabiting the same streets. OK, that was in a dream but this film compounds my instincts for that particular theory. It's a romantic story that is crammed with intrigue and drama and there are no wasted scenes.

I was ten when I began watching good movies. Les Jeux Sont Faits was one of them, and as a young boy, this romantic fantastic noir from 1947 impressed me deeply and forever. Except that I was too young to remember the title of the movie and the director's and actors name, ... but the story, impossible to forget, haunting me for nearly forty years.

And last week, searching in a huge video club, I finally rediscovered it. What a surprise : Jean Delannoy, Jean-Paul Sartre, Micheline Presles and the great cinematographer Christian Matras (three masterpieces with Max Ophüls and many more).

Despite a too old cassette edition, the souvenir was intact and the emotion even stronger. A real forgotten french romantic fantastic noir movie masterpiece, sadly with no DVD edition, I just don't understand.

But maybe we can think of hope with the "musée Jean Delannoy", time will tell ...

I saw this film in the early 1950s, I believe, and I have never forgotten it. I can't find a listing of it as a video production in any format and wish that it could be restored and shown again. It is a touching story of an aristocratic woman and a working-class tough who die and meet in the afterlife. They fall in love and apply to a registry to get a second chance at life on earth. The conditions being that they stay together and make a success of their union. I particularly remember the depiction of the afterlife, which is populated with people costumed from several past eras, who stroll unseen in the contemporary world. A haunting visual experience and a touching drama.

If ever there was a hidden gem in movie-history, this is a true one. Despite its rather sombre theme, notice that one of the writers is Jean-Paul Sartre, the film is terribly entertaining and exciting. Micheline Presle is superb in the title role. The black-and-white photography is excellent, as always in the French films from the 30´s and 40´s. This film is a must, if you ever get to see it, although the chances probably are rather slim since it hasn´t been in circulation for quite some time.