Pierre Richard-Willm comes to town to take up the post of Refendary -- the equivalent of a law clerk. He's a blithe, modern fellow who is kind to children, writes poetry and reads Rosseau, and makes friends instantly with Jean Galland, who shows him his copy of the banned author. He quickly falls in love with Annie Vernay. When he proposes to her, she tells him she is engaged to be married to Galland.
Max Ophuls' movie is pretty much a standard weeper at this point. It is, however, based on a Goethe novel, which means that besides the usual proto-noir lighting of the second half and Richard-Willm's descent into drunkenness and whoring, there's a philosophical bent to it. There's a murderer who killed a woman. On questioning, it turns out that they loved each other, but she was likewise married to another. Richard-Willm and Galland have an argument about law and murder, in which the protagonist argues for temporary insanity and Galland argues for the protection of society.
It's a well-made movie, as you would expect from Ophuls. Its literary source and philosophical argument give it a respectability; the kindly people and constrained society of its setting support the theses of the movie. However, at its base it's a well-done tear-jerker.
Max Ophuls' movie is pretty much a standard weeper at this point. It is, however, based on a Goethe novel, which means that besides the usual proto-noir lighting of the second half and Richard-Willm's descent into drunkenness and whoring, there's a philosophical bent to it. There's a murderer who killed a woman. On questioning, it turns out that they loved each other, but she was likewise married to another. Richard-Willm and Galland have an argument about law and murder, in which the protagonist argues for temporary insanity and Galland argues for the protection of society.
It's a well-made movie, as you would expect from Ophuls. Its literary source and philosophical argument give it a respectability; the kindly people and constrained society of its setting support the theses of the movie. However, at its base it's a well-done tear-jerker.