Jean Gabin runs a great restaurant right by Les Halles, the central market of Paris. He's bluff, hardworking, and has taken under his wing Gérard Blain, a poor medical student who works at the market, whom he feeds regularly and takes with him to visit his mother, who runs an inn in the country. Danièle Delorme comes to him from Marseilles. She is the daughter of his ex-wife, who has just died. Gabin takes her in and treats her as a daughter, but comes to have different feelings for her. There's just one problem. Her mother isn't dead. She's a drug addict staying at a cheap hotel nearby, and has a plan for profit.
It's a tale of betrayal directed by Julien Duvivier, and with Gabin in the lead, it's watching both at the top of their forms. One of the strengths of Duvivier is his ability to convince you he is what he's playing on screen. As the chef and owner of the restaurant, he's always busy, cooking, dealing with the staff, tending to his customers, catching fish for a fry-up outside his mother's inn. Others get their moments, like Aimé Clariond as an old rake who keeps bringing young actresses to the restaurant, like a character out of a Clouzot film. In fact, it looks like Duvivier is trying to out-Clouzot Clouzot, and he does a fine job of it.
It's a tale of betrayal directed by Julien Duvivier, and with Gabin in the lead, it's watching both at the top of their forms. One of the strengths of Duvivier is his ability to convince you he is what he's playing on screen. As the chef and owner of the restaurant, he's always busy, cooking, dealing with the staff, tending to his customers, catching fish for a fry-up outside his mother's inn. Others get their moments, like Aimé Clariond as an old rake who keeps bringing young actresses to the restaurant, like a character out of a Clouzot film. In fact, it looks like Duvivier is trying to out-Clouzot Clouzot, and he does a fine job of it.