Synopsis
At the end of the 19th century, during a ball in Joinville, on the outskirts of Paris, Georges, a former delinquent working as a carpenter, meets Marie, a young woman connected to a criminal gang.
1952 Directed by Jacques Becker
At the end of the 19th century, during a ball in Joinville, on the outskirts of Paris, Georges, a former delinquent working as a carpenter, meets Marie, a young woman connected to a criminal gang.
Simone Signoret Serge Reggiani Claude Dauphin Raymond Bussières Odette Barencey Loleh Bellon Solange Certin Jacqueline Dane Dominique Davray Paul Azaïs Paul Barge Claude Castaing Jean Clarieux Tony Corteggiani Émile Genevois Marc Goutas Gaston Modot William Sabatier Fernand Trignol Anne Beressy Marianne Bergue Jacqueline Canterelle Gisèle Delzen Suzanne Grey Simone Jarnac Yette Lucas Jacqueline Marbaut Pâquerette Pomme Show All…
Blonde Marie, En un suburbio de París, Gouden Helm, Rakastajatar, Aranysisak, 肉体の冠, La reina del hampa, Aquela Loura, Die Sünderin von Paris, Golden Marie, Casco d'Oro, Altın Başlık, Goldhelm, París, bajos fondos, Златната Каска, Möte under stjärnorna, Złoty Kask, Золотая Каска, 황금 투구, 金盔, De Zondares van Parijs, Amores de Apache, Aquela Loira, Золота Каска, Smukke Marie
Stage 18: Pau > Luz Ardiden, 129.7 km (mountain)
Winner: Tadej Pogačar (UAE-Team Emirates)
Yellow Jersey: Tadej Pogačar (UAE-Team Emirates)
Verdict: Copy/paste of yesterday's stage, even the top three was exactly the same, and will, barring accidents, also be the podium for this Tour. Pogačar won his second consecutive stage win in the yellow jersey; he's just too good for the rest.
100-word review: Raymond introduces Manda, with whom he was in prison together, to his fellow gang members. His friend falls for the beautiful Marie, Raymond's — another gang member — girl. Manda and Raymond have a fight, during which the latter gets killed. Manda gets away, but must make a tough decision when his buddy Raymond gets framed for…
Great French Belle Époque noir by Jacques Becker (Falbalas, Touchez pas au gris-bi, Le trou). The incomparable Simone Signoret is Marie, a hooker with a heart of gold mixed up with shady demi-monde gangsters in Paris at the turn of the 20th Century. She's matched every step of the way by love-at-first-sight interest Georges Manda, played by Serge Reggiani, a particular favourite of mine among French actors of his era. It's my second Reggiani just this week, and his streak of never being bad in anything continued for me.
I won't call it complex or even deep, but the story, loosely based on a widely publicized real-life love triangle the pointy ends of which were two gang leaders and a…
The cinema of French film director and screenwriter Jacques Becker transitioned from the classicism of pre-war cinema to the enthusiasm of the 1960s; consequently, he was one of the few filmmakers applauded by Cahiers du cinéma, the film journal that launched the French New Wave. Casque d'Or sees him telling a story located in the underworld environment in Paris in 1900 that is loosely based on actual events.
The tale of a hapless love affair attends prostitute Marie (Simone Signoret) as she recognises that she's unhappy with her relationship with Parisian gangster Roland Dupuis (William Sabatier). Initially desiring Roland due to being swept up in the energy of being part of a criminal gang, she encounters and connects with carpenter…
There's an interesting sub-theme at work in Casque d'Or, in which the police (who refer to prisoners as "the goods") and criminals are one and the same in terms of their worldviews. Both see human being merely as objects to be owned and used, worthy of consideration only when their presence is relevant to the desires of those who consider themselves to be in charge.
Leca (Claude Dauphin) absolutely sees Marie as an object and nothing more, wanting to buy her from Roland (William Sabatier) and then suggesting that Manda (Serge Reggiani) do the same. But he also refers to Inspector Juliani (Paul Barge) as "my cop", a strong indication that his attitude toward Marie is more one of simple…
Despite its period trappings, Casque d’Or has all the makings of a postwar French noir. Starting with an underworld subculture not unlike the one in director Jacques Becker’s later masterpiece Touchez Pas au Grisbi. But within this world there are also hints of American westerns. Particularly in the way its hoodlums have their own way of settling grievances through almost ritualistic contests of violence.
There’s a great scene where two men have a knife fight in a back alley with only a single knife. They have to race to grab it, wrestle over it, and the loser ends up dead. The whole affair is overseen by a boss. Just to make sure that everything is on the up-and-up, murder-wise. The…
An achievment in worldbuilding whose romantic/crime plot mostly allows for the characters to react to the imperatives that world settles for them.
Sure is a real shame that Marie is never anything other than an object men attempt to acquire because:
A. Women are not objects
B. Simone Signoret is such an amazing actress and she's given absolutely nothing to do while simultaneously being the most compelling aspect of the film
Stylish and well-made, Casque d'or is a terrifically well photographed period romance released eight years before Jacques Becker's swansong LeTrou and while full of artistic flourish, it didn't always hit the spot for me. The repeated references to 'owning' people left a bitter taste too.
Woman says the wrong thing, slap!
Looks the wrong way, slap!
Man moves in on other man's girl, slap-slap-double-bitchslap combo!
While this is most certainly a good-looking film of it's time with a solidly played love triangle theme, there are moments that haven't aged particularly well.
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Criterion Channel Takedown: 05 - Jacques Becker
The passionate story of Marie (Simone Signoret), who has the golden hair of the title, and Georges (Serge Reggiani) is told from open-air dance to guillotine. And it looks stunning in a 4k restoration.
Those mesdames et messieurs sure knew how to dress well during La Belle Époque, especially, it seems, if they were in a criminal gang.
Jacques Becker was a sublime observer of the common person and his masterpiece Casque d'Or has a myriad wonderful moments singed into the celluloid. The film is faultless. Its narrative is tight; its recreation of a bygone era lustrous; its camerawork fluid; its acting gutsy; its themes (dishonour among thieves, the struggle of strong women, the elusiveness of love, the need for redemption) resonant. Along with Becker's Montparnasse 19, which I watched last week, it signs off with a perfect, devastating ending.
Most of all, it has Simone Signoret. My God, the magnetism that woman exerted onscreen. Each flare of her eyes, each flicker of her lips enthrals - her grasp of the character Marie is total, a mosaic constructed of perceptive glimpses granted to the audience. Signoret is here entering her peak period, photographed luminously, incarnating an earthy, dynamic, captivating woman for the ages.
A triumph of French cinema and certainly one of the great screen romances ever orchestrated, Jacques Becker's Casque d’Or is a marvel of technical and emotional expression that takes visual inspiration from the impressionist painters of the era it so brilliantly depicts, all shot with the class of Jean Renoir and the elegant fluidity of Max Ophüls, bridging the gap between old and new prior to the explosion of the upcoming New Wave.
Immediately we are immersed in old Paris during the enchanting Belle Époque, the camerawork is so subtle in the way it establishes place with beautiful, Louvre-worthy compositions, cleverly navigates space and uses careful staging that minimises exposition. Becker was a genius at expressing as much as possible…