Meurtres

Between 1948 and 1951 no less than four films were released that dealt with the perennially emotive theme of 'mercy killing', comprising one from America, two from France and the last from Germany.

The third of these has been directed by Richard Pottier and stars Fernandel. It presents a stark contrast to their previous lightweight offering 'Casimir', released a few months earlier and fulfils the poster's promise of 'A Fernandel unknown to you'. His beautifully restrained, economic and sympathetic performance, without doubt one of his finest, would have been guaranteed to surprise his legion of fans.

Adapted from the novel by Charles Plinier, the director and his brilliant dialogist Henri Jeanson have outdone Chabrol in their scathing depiction of a provincial bourgeoisie that will go to any lengths to avoid scandal and protect its interests.

Amongst the excellent cast is the twenty-two year old Jeanne Moreau, already the youngest member of the Comedie Francaise and an artiste who possesses Ingredient X in spades.

Fernandel regarded this as one of his most important films as it broadened his repertoire especially under the direction of Henri Verneuil.

Richard Pottier alas was never again to reach such heights and the following year directed the film with which he will forever be associated, 'Caroline Chérie'.

The film is an interesting example of a no-frills, very direct yet eloquent story telling. A simple, even a bit naïve story, but which acquires a new stature on the account of the way it is told. Also, a pleasure to see Jeanne Moreau so young in the movie.

This french movie treats the, for its time, daring theme of euthanasia. Fernandel's wife is dying and suffering terribly so on her demand he administers her a deadly dose of morfine. He wants to take full blame but his upstart brothers don't want their reputation tainted so they try to declare him insane.

Movie is straightforward but competently executed. It starts off very dark and dramatically but slightly turns into more lighter fare and ends almost as a comedy. After all the leading man is Fernandel who would go on to become France's most popular comedy actor (see the Don Camillo series).

Director Richard Pottier always got a bad rap from critics but I guess this is mainly of the many "operette" movies he made, frequently starring Luis Mariano. His next fillm was "Caroline Cherie" a rather bawdy account of the misadventures of a young girl (Martine Carol) during the French revolution. It would turn out to be one of the most succesfull French movies of the fifties.

1950 was the year of euthanasia ,at least in French cinema.Two movies dealt with this harsh difficult much-debated subject:André Cayatte's "Justice est faite" and Richard Pottier's "Meurtres" .

Richard who? Richard Pottier! An unfairly overlooked director who did not produce masterpieces but made decent interesting works.His " Fanfare d'amour" -which is impossible to see in France nowadays ,a DVD please!- was remade by Billy Wilder as "some like it hot" .His "Caroline Cherie" ,funny amorous adventures , was the forerunner of the " Angelique" saga in the sixties.His detective films were not bad either ("la Ferme aux Loups" "Les Caves du Majestic" ).But "Meurtres" will probably remain his finest achievement.

The subject (euthanasia) was more than daring at the time.Whereas Andre Cayatte ("Justice est faite" ) remained mysterious about the heroine's intentions (did she try to put an end to her mistress's suffering or did she want to latch on to a substantial amount of dough earlier?),Richard Pottier and his writer (Henri Jeanson:who else?) are not afraid to make us attend the whole thing: the wife's intense suffering,the helpless husband ; her plea: " sooner or later,I'm gonna die;please give me an injection";her death as she tries to thank her husband but she cannot speak anymore.

The husband (one of Fernandel's rare tragic performances:he is prodigious)was a schoolteacher's son .His father bled himself dry for his three sons:two of them made their way of life :a lawyer and a doctor but the third one (Fernandel) stayed with his dear father till his death and has modestly lived since .The sequence when Fernadel talks about his daddy is extremely moving.

In direct contrast to him,we have his brothers : two mean bourgeois so called respectable men,with hateful wives (one of them is dumb,the other disdainful).When the desperate brother wants to give himself up,they are not prepared to accept it: better sending him to an insane asylum! Once again ,Henri Jeanson's lines spit out their venom."They have two shrinks : the first one tries to find the touch of reason in a mad patient's mind;the second tries to find the touch of madness in a sane patient's mind." Guess which one the brothers will choose.These brothers and their wives think that only their lives are worth preserving: the others ,who cares? who cares if a home nurse is sent to jail?who cares if a sane man is sent to a hospital for the rest of his life? Richard Pottier's film could be as dark as Allégret's ,Duvivier's ,Decoin's or Clouzot's films noirs,if it weren't for the hero's niece ,wonderfully played by Jeanne Moreau.She's on the unfortunate hero's side ,she refuses bourgeois conventions,and she predates woman's lib by almost twenty years.

"Meurtres " : not to be missed.