This French film entitled in English THE WOMAN WHO DARED has the original title of LE CIEL EST A VOUS (THE SKY IS YOURS). A screen card at the beginning of the original version says it is based on real events which took place in 1937, though no one seems to know what those were. In any case, the story is set in the late thirties in France. The film is directed by the much-revered French director of yesteryear, Jean Grémillon. He directs at a leisurely pace and is in no hurry to cut out the expository parts of early scenes in order to get a move on. He likes to lay the groundwork of his story in a languid fashion. The film was made under the German Occupation of France, and all such films have aroused both suspicion and hostility, many who made them were accused of being collaborators, and some genuinely were. Charles Vanel is wonderful as a mild, tolerant husband to a fiery younger wife, played by Madeleine Renaud with her usual flair. Vanel's character had worked as an engine mechanic for a famous fighter pilot in World War One. He has now become an expert auto mechanic in a small garage and struggles to make a living. Unpredictable events lead to his elevation to a better paying status, and his wife gets a well-paying job too away from home. He has secretly been piloting planes at the local aerodrome, his wife finds out and is horrified and forbids him to continue, to which he reluctantly complies. (She is a real tyrant and forbids her daughter to continue taking piano lessons when her piano teacher has the effrontery to suggest that the daughter is so talented that she should go to a Conservatoire of music and become professional; the mother wants her to earn money, not become artistic.) Suddenly, Renaud becomes infatuated herself with flying and she too becomes a pilot. Husband and wife get really carried away and adapt their plane for long-range flights so that the wife can attempt to beat the world ladies' record for solo distance flying (which at the moment stood at 2500 kilometres). With no money and no support, having sunk every penny of borrowings into their new improved plane, they enter the competition. I must not say what happens then, but she does indeed qualify to be called 'the woman who dared' and the original title of the film is absolutely right.
