Trois chambres à Manhattan aka Three Rooms in Manhattan (1965) Solitude in the City

Directed by Marcel Carné (Le quai des brumes (1938) and Le Jour Se Leve (1939)). 

Written by Marcel Carné, Jacques Sigurd, and based on Georges Simenon's 1946  "Trois Chambres à Manhattan" novel. The Cinematography was by Eugen Schüfftan (Le quai des brumes) and Music was by Martial Solal, and Mal Waldron.

From what I've read Three Rooms in Manhattan was originally, in concept, slated to be directed by Jean Pierre Melville. Melville had previously directed Two Men In Manhattan (1959). Instead Melville made Le deuxième souffle. Carné at this point in his career was being written off by French critics as being both passé and out of fashion.    

The film stars Annie Girardot as Kay Larsi, Maurice Ronet as François Comte, O.E. Hasse as Hourvitch, Roland Lesaffre as Pierre, Gabriele Ferzetti as Comte Larsi, Geneviève Page as Yolande Combes, Robert Hoffmann as Thierry, Margaret Nolan as June, Virginia Vee as La chanteuse noire.

Maurice Ronet as François Comte

Annie Girardot as Kay Larsi

Robert De Niro in a small uncredited part as a client at a dinner scene, and  Abe Vigoda is seen in an uncredited part as a man in an elevator.

The Story

François was a star in France. He had a rough end to a relationship with a woman so he pulls up his stakes in Paris and sets his sights on making it in the big time heading for "Tinsel town," Hollywood U.S.A. He wants to be the next Charles Boyer or Maurice Chevalier. That goes nowheresville. He leaves that idea, parked on the boulevard of Broken Dreams and heads to New York City to schlep around for a television company. Hey, at least its show biz.

At night he roams the streets and watering holes of Manhattan. On one of his nocturnal prowls he meets Kay a fellow nighthawk in a downtown luncheonette. Kay is also coming out of a relationship with an airline pilot named Jesse. François and Kay talk and find they have things in common and like what each other sees.

They rent a hotel room, and make love, which becomes room number one. They proceed to have an affair. Kay moves into François' flop. This is room number two. Things go Noirsville  when Kay reveals that she is actually estranged from her husband an Italian Count. She ran away from him out of boredom with a gigolo.  François starts having second thoughts about Kay but fate intervenes when Kay is informed that her daughter is seriously ill in Mexico. She splits. While Kay is gone François has another affair with an actress.

Noirsville

The film is talky and has a very melancholy atmosphere and wont be to everyone's taste. It also has value for its 1965 archival footage of Manhattan. Nice soundtrack. Worth a look. 6/10.