La fin du jour

"One never touches something great without being grown up oneself". This melancholic praise of the theater, as if it had more reality than life, is superbly put in abyss by Duvivier, who has fun revealing to us its pretenses, its sad and pathetic narcissism. A tender, crepuscular and dark ode to a world that is unraveling at the same time as it is being filmed. A last tribute, an ultimate remorse.

A fabulous cast of actors (Jouvet, Simon and so on) for a bitter movie, with still some tenderness in it. It is a hard story about people loosing themselves in front or THE big issue of life. Remember this movie was shot a few month before WW2 started ? Even if not connected at all with the political/social context of that period, still it reflects the uncertainties of the period, through hard and changing characters. A must.

I love French Pre-WWII Films, Marcel Carné has become one of my favorite directors, and Julien Duvivier's previous movie (Panique) is one of the best movies i have watched. Unfortunately, i can't say the same about this one. La fin du jour is a good movie, well acted and well directed but it was too miserable at times. Usually, it's not such a bad thing and i don't need every movie i watch to bring me joy, most of the greatest movies ever are dark and sad. But it was not only that, in addition, this was not that interesting. Maybe if i revisit this when i get old as the leading characters here, i will appreciate it more. But at this stage of my life, i was not moved by this movie. "Sad" moments didn't feel sad, "funny" moments were not funny. This was unimpressive, bland, even lifeless at times. And the whole charade about this (supposedly) 17 years old girl who could end her life just to show the world her love about a 70-ish years old guy, felt ridiculous and out of place. (Maybe this was not something unusual those years, ok, but great movies are timeless, regardless of their age, and this one is not just dated but obsolete).

Yet, i cannot not recommend it, because it is still a good movie, classy and elegant. Michel Simon is a great actor, even though i couldn't stand him here. And the ending was good.

Just don't start your French Pre-WWII Films journey with this one. Search for Carne movies first.

Well, it might have been one of the great French classics, to stand with Les enfants du paradis, Quai des brumes, La regle du jeu and so on. Instead we have Louis Jouvet who is really inspired as the great seducer Saint Clair; he was moving as the Baron in Les bas-fonds, and as Arletty's pimp in Hotel du nord, but here he is really vicious as a washed-up actor who doesn't get curtain calls anymore. He rereads old love letters from his flames of thirty years ago; this is an agreeable way to pass time.

Michel Simon as the understudy who can never get on stage because the star is never sick gives another fine performance. Think of a Boudu with more work ethic and a sense of humour and you've got him. The third male lead is Victor Francen, playing an actor who never realized his potential because his wife died (in a suspicious manner). He was born to play Racine and Corneille, but could not rise to any heights owing to the weight of grief. I am not convinced by anything Francen does here: there seems to be a hollow man behind the well-trimmed beard and elegant clothes. Gabrielle Dorziat is a pleasure to watch in anything (how great she was in Les parents terribles). She has a very affecting scene with Jouvet, one of her old loves.

Amazing, one of the best movies seen in years. Finding it was a total surprise, since I had never heard of it. Yet it should keep company alongside Renoir's "La Regle du Jeu" (also 1939) or Carne's "Hotel du Nord" (1938).

The story features the sharp edges of Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard" (1950) sanded down by the spirit of Leo McCarey. One of the rare, non-grating performances by Michel Simon. Also standouts from Victor Francen and Louis Jouvet. Francen in the 1930's already plays a senior citizen, yet he will appear in films of the 1960's looking hardly any different. Louis Jouvet, after starring in "Hotel du Nord" is at his best here as St.-Clair, an egotistical, sinister cad whose shortcomings are revealed with realism leavened by sympathy in the Duvivier-Charles Spaak script. Few actors have portrayed evil with the depth and complexity of Jouvet in this movie.

To describe any of the plot points would only detract from the experience of watching this movie. Relating just about any incident would amount to a sort of "spoiler", since I think I appreciated this film so much because I knew so little about it. Viewing should precede reading where this movie is concerned.

It is enough to say that "La Fin du Jour" belongs on any list of great movies.

The subject matter of the lively arts appears frequently on screen. If you like "La Fin du Jour", I could recommend "Floating Weeds" (1958) or "For Fun" (1993), members of the same family in spite of being many years and many miles away from Duvivier's world.