Supelice Dreadfully Boring

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Michael Lilly The film being produced during the Nazi occupation years by André Paulvé and directed by Marcel Carné leaves some stones not turned over but in spite of all things related to the weather, financing, and German ultimate control of film production. 'Les Visiteurs du Soir,' is a firm declaration that true love can survive in spite of any of the devil's attempts to refute any realism and transcendence of the love between two human souls.A devil's envoy falls in love with Anne, a woman who is engaged to marry another man. Gilles has signed an agreement in blood with the devil to relinquish his soul and must therefore assist him in obtaining more souls. Dominique, also a devil's envoy, gets both Barons Renaud and Hugue to accept the love of herself, despite the fact that she is incapable of loving. Obtaining promises from both of them is enough.

gavin6942 At the end of the 15th century, two minstrels (Gilles and Dominique) come from nowhere into the castle of Baron Hugues. Gilles charms Anne, Hughes' daughter, while Dominique charms both Hugues and Ann's fiancé. Gilles and Dominique are not really in love: they are sent by the Devil to desperate people. But Ann is so pure that Gilles is caught to his own trap. How will they fight against the Devil? One of the reasons that the film was such a huge success was due to murmuring before the film was released that the film was an allegory for the current situation. Many people saw the character of the Devil as representing Hitler and the continued beating hearts of the lovers as representing France living under German rule, but not giving up hope. Carné maintained until his death that the film was not an intentional allegory for the war and that any relationship was purely unconscious.As far as French fantasy films go, this is not the greatest one out there. For me, that would probably be "Donkeyskin". But this does have a few things going for it. One, it is much earlier than "Donkeyskin", so has the advantage of being first. Two, it has the Devil, which rises it from fantasy or fairy tale to a more religious context, meaning that deeper symbolism can be found (whether intended or not).But I think its best quality is the association with Hitler that the Devil has, as noted above. I am willing to believe this was not intentional. But it does seem like a great message to get out of a film made during the occupation... this is a country of Frenchmen who had to keep their French pride in check. That turns this into a patriotic film, even if it has nothing to do with 20th century France on the surface.

cat-that-goes-by-himself Simply the most beautiful and moving movie that stemmed from the "réalisme poétique" movement. A truly atemporal story, despite the resistance allusions which can live long after the end of WWII.What makes me really love this movie is the contrast between the very dated conventions of acting, the seemingly slow pace that was the rule at a time the video clips were still waiting in an unforeseeable future and the perfect consistency of the characters and psychology. The emotion is still intact no matter how much the way actors and directors are supposed to convey it has changed over decades.What a bunch of great actors! True professionals working seamlessly together to serve a masterly written script. I really advise non-french speaking people to watch it in original version with subtitles, to enjoy the music of Prevert's poetic lines.This movie is a real gem.

writers_reign The beauty of this stand-out collaboration between Jacques Prevert and Marcel Carne - in the middle of their great hitting streak - is that it works even without the 'coded' references which were a necessity at a time of German Occupation in France. So even when you watch Jules Berry as just the Devil and not a symbol for Hitler and likewise view the two visitors not as symbols of the Resistance but merely two wandering minstrels it still plays and you'll go a long way to find a more poetic image/symbol than Prevert's finale in which the Devil turns the lovers to stone before our eyes yet their hearts keep on beating. Not least of the pleasures on offer is future icon Simone Signoret as an extra but the whole schmeer, complete with some tasty lyrics by Prevert, is a total delight. 8/10