Døden er et kjærtegn

...it is my first comment on a Norwegian film. My friend told me it is the only film noir ever made in his country..

This is the story of a working man,who's got a gorgeous fiancée and who falls for a rich older woman,a femme fatale who will be his downfall.

Sometimes looking like a "Room at the top" in reverse (but the Norwegian work was made before Clayton's one),the relationship between the two lovers is harsh and the last picture makes your hair stand on end.

Made at a time when women directors were rare (Ida Lupino,Jacqueline Audry),it is less eventful than the contemporary film noirs.

Claus Wiese is the handsome young "Erik", happily chugging along with girlfriend "Marit" (Eva Bergh) until the wealthy "Sonja" (Bjørd Riiser-Larsen) stops by his garage to have her car engine fixed. A few days later, he is offered a chauffeuring job and it turns out that it is her and her husband who are having a weekend together before he heads off on a business trip to the USA. You can guess what happens once he has gone, but is it just an one night stand or might it develop into something more? The film follows the ebbs and flows of their, frankly, torrid relationship. Drink fulled temper tantrums, acute jealousy and her inconsistent behaviour tests this otherwise mild-mannered younger man severely. Sadly, though, this film all just came across to me as too contrived. Initially they do fancy one and other, that's fine - but as their toxic friendship evolves, it becomes quite tough to watch because their love/hate/love relationship just isn't plausible. The ending is telegraphed by the retrospective narrative of the story (told by "Erik" talking to a police officer from the top of the film). For 1949, the dialogue and one or two of the scenes are maybe a bit risqué, but I wouldn't say this is one of Edith Calmar's finest works. It is notable for what it represents in terms of the development of cinema, and the fact that it has a woman director, but I can't say much more than that.

Reportedly Norway's first film noir, and also the directorial debut of Edith Carlmar who was the first notable female director working in that country, "Death Is A Caress" (1949) is as technically proficient as any Hollywood film of that era in that genre, but decidedly more frank and suggestive; it shows and talks about things that Hollywood would not touch until at least one more decade. There are some superb scene transitions too; Carlmar really was a talented director. One irony is that the "fiancè" Eva Bergh is drop-dead gorgeous and considerably more attractive than the Joan Crawford-esque "femme fatale" Bjørg Riiser-Larsen, though a scene of the latter in her beachwear almost made me change my mind. *** out of 4.