Obsession (1954) French Color Circus Noir

This was an interesting find.

I had just finished watching the classic Touchez Pas au Grisbi and I was doing some research into the careers of its director and cinematographer. I was surprised that Jacques Becker made so few Film Noir. Le Trou is his only one that I've seen. So that brought me to Pierre Montazel which in turn lead me to Obsession.

Directed by Jean Delannoy. Written by Antoine Blondin, Jean Delannoy, Roland Laudenbach,  Gian Luigi Rondi, and based on Cornell Woolrich's story "Silent as the Grave" under his pseudonym  William Irish. The music was by Paul Misraki.

What makes this film stand out is the excellent color cinematography by Pierre Montazel who had just completed the Black & White French Film Noir masterpiece Touchez Pas au Grisbi.

Delanoy, Montazel, combined with the Production Design by René Renoux gives us a sort of psychosomatic Color Noir pallet that is subdued, slightly disturbing, mildly nauseous. Most scenes are composed of puke yellows, carnal reds, entrails green, and dead corpse blues.

Michèle Morgan as Hélène Giovanni

Raf Vallone as Aldo Giovanni

The Giovanis Hélène and Aldo are famous trapeze act in a traveling circus. When Aldo pulls a muscle he is sidelined and Alex one of the performers in another circus trapeze act that Aldo was formerly in is hired to temporary replace him. Alex's arrival makes Aldo both slightly jealous and filled with remorse and he starts to drink. Aldo confesses to Hélène that Alex brings back memories of when he killed a man Jim Brunot who crossed him during an act.. Whether or not it was deliberate could not be proven.

Jean Gaven as Alexandre Buisson

The new act

The man Aldo killed

Aldo runs out and  goes on a bender. Hélène worried about him goes out to find him. When she runs into Alex, he offers to help since he knows all the watering holes in town. When they finally find Aldo Hélène goes inside to convince Aldo to come back to the hotel.

While they are talking Aldo notices Alex watching them through the window. He throws a soda bottle at Alex then runs outside to the docks.

Hélène and Alex go searching for him. When Alex finds him they begin to fight. Hélène shows up just as Alex gets the upper hand and knocks Aldo down.

Hélène comforts Aldo while Alex walks disgustedly away. Once Aldo regains his senses, he gets up and pushes Hélène to the cobblestones and again takes off into the night.

3:00 AM. Helen is sitting up in bed when Aldo stumbles back into their room. He takes off his jacket and lays on the bed. Helen shuts off the light. 8:00 AM Hélène is awakened by noise outside the door. She opens the door and is confronted by police going through Alex's room. She is shocked when they tell her that he's been found murdered. Immediately she assumes that Aldo killed him.

Alex dead

When the police do their investigation and arrest the circus dog trainer Louis Bernardin and try and convict him, Hélène says nothing. The pressure slowly ratchets up on Hélène. It goes Noirsville when she decides to confess all to Commissioner Chardin.

Noirsville

1950 Studebaker

Olivier Hussenot as Louis Bernardin

The film stars Michèle Morgan as Hélène Giovanni, Raf Vallone as Aldo Giovanni, Marthe Mercadier as Arlette Bernardin, Jean Gaven as Alexandre Buisson, Albert Duvaleix as Barnet and Robert Dalban as Inspecteur Chardin.

Nothing special but it's interesting, another another addition to the Color Noir lists. 6-7/10

P.S. BTW here is the synopsis of Woolrich/Irish story Silent as the Grave – Frances and Kenneth had true love, nobody ever doubted that, at least Frances didn't. So on the night of his proposal, she swears to be as silent as the grave when he confesses to having murdering a man who crossed him years before. The two get married and she never thinks of it again. Until the colleague who unjustly gets Kenneth fired is killed and a potentially innocent man ends up on death row.