La poison

Michel Simon is married to Germaine Reuver and they hate each other. He complains about her to everyone in town. One night, he hears Jean Debucourt on the radio. Debucourt is a lawyer who has won his hundredth acquittal and is interviewed on the subject. So Simon goes to the lawyer and confesses that he has killed his wife, draws out the details of how he has done it -- with an eye towards acquittal -- and goes home to kill her. When Debucourt shows up, Simon proceeds to blackmail the lawyer into mounting his defense in this excessively funny black comedy from Sacha Guitry.

If you want someone to play a monster and yet be very human and funny, you could never do any better than Michel Simon. Watching his ego grow, from that of a man frightened to go home to one lecturing judges in court, he makes everyone his straight man, thanks to Guitry's script (obviously written for his star's talents).

Guitry offers his credits in an unusual manner: he strolls around the set, complimenting his major collaborators, who appear as themselves -- although a couple who are heard only over the radio are thanked over the phone. It's a thoroughly theatrical invention from an artist who straddled stage and screen.

One is perfectly justified to see this as social satire, but for me Guthry's "La poison" (1951) is, above all, an easygoing, darkly humorous and witty pastiche on acting in all its forms – taking on roles in marriage, in society, in one's own eyes, in others' eyes, and of course, in a film. The opening introductory credit sequence sets the mood perfectly, as there we are explicitly shown that we will witness a performance that has been carefully planned, all actors, actresses and staff selected. I don't think this is just a stylistic whim of exuberance, it's an actual set-up for us. There are several references to theatre with exits and entrances through doors, and space is handled with confines, scenes as separate entities, spaces as separate entities. And then there's the central scene in the lawyer's office, where they literally create a fabrication that when inverted becomes the desired reality for Simon's character. Reconstruction, deconstruction, all of this means the same in this wonderful scene.

The chimera and the clown, death and joy – that's what the film is also about. This contrast of tragedy and comedy, its light-hearted darkness, presents itself also in the title, playing with the meaning of poison ("le poison" in French, with the masculine article) and the mocking identifier "la poison" (with the feminine article) given to… well, by all means watch the film and you'll find out.

To complete the previous comment (which I agree), I will add that Michel Simon's (clever) machiavelism is to visit the lawyer PRIOR the killing of his wife(pretending he already did it),in order to know how to commit the "perfect" murder without being sentenced as much as possible; smart!

Maybe Sacha Guitry's most cynical movie about marriage. The famous Director/writer was an active womanizer and we may think that he was deceived by the female gender at this time (close to his death)and wished some revenge through this film (his young last wife -Lana Marconi- was supposedly interested in his money only and eventually sold his late husband's house in Paris to speculating promoters, only a couple of years after his death (the house was destroyed immediately to build a new building of no interest, whereas Guitry's last deep wish was to open a comedian's museum to exhibit his rarest manuscripts, costumes, theater memorabilia, etc.). What a pity!

The everyday life of Paul Braconnier (played by the famous Michel Simon) and his wife Blandine (Germaine Reuver) is far from what one would describe as a marital bliss. Paul Braconnier reproaches her that she's old and ugly and that she drinks too much. They hate each other as much as they possibly can - to the point that they want to murder each other. One day, Paul Braconnier hears about the champion lawyer Maitre Aubanel (played by Jean Debucourt) who just won his 100th case. Paul decided to promptly visit him to know how he can kill his wife without going to jail. Delighted to hear that murder without consequences is possible, he decides to stab his wife when she is about to poison him. With a lawyer like Aubanel, he is certain to get away with his crime. What follows is probably the funniest trial sequence in film history.

'La poison' is the funniest movie that Sacha Guitry made after WWII. As always in the work of Sacha Guitry, this story is a satire of marriage. This black comedy is delightful due to the performance of Michel Simon (once more!) in this role of a colorful rogue and to the high standard comical writing of Sacha Guitry. The name of the main character (Braconnier, which is the French word for poacher) was not chosen randomly: it is a description of the attitude that the main character has throughout the movie, i.e. that of a character behaving against the law. The tone of the movie is definitively anarchist and the character played by Michel Simon is not far from that of Boudu (another great performance by Michel Simon in 'Boudu sauve des eaux by Jean Renoir, 1932).

Guitry adds to our pleasure by introducing the complete credited cast during the opening sequence (much alike Orson Welles introducing his actors in the movie Othello and in the trailer of Citizen Kane) congratulating Michel Simon for his acting. Louis de Funes (at this time not as popular as he would be more than a decade later) can be seen in a small role. Pauline Carton (who played in most of Sacha Guitry movies) is present as well.

This movie is a gem. Highly recommended. 10/10.

In an opening credits segment that's certainly original, writer-director Sacha Guitry appears in front of the camera and personally greets the actors and the rest of the crew who worked in this film. At one point, he mentions that he still sees film as theater (where he began his career), and you can tell - there are long scenes with two people sitting opposite each other talking, which on one hand allows you to admire the wit of the dialogue (the more French you pick up, probably the better), on the oher hand it makes the film feel sometimes talky and belabored. With that said, in other aspects "La Poison" is definitely ahead of its time - especially in the uncompomising, merciless blackness of its comedy. I doubt anyone in Hollywood could get away with this type of ending in 1951 (they could, for a while, before 1934 and the Code). Look out for a young Louis de Funès with plenty of hair! **1/2 out of 4.