Voici le temps des assassins aka Deadlier Than the Male (1956) Paris Chef Noir

Directed by Julien Duvivier. 

Written by Julien Duvivier, Charles Dorat, Maurice Bessy with adaptation by Charles Dorat and Pierre-Aristide Bréal.

Cinematography by Armand Thirard, Music by Jean Wiener. 

The film stars Jean Gabin (Pépé le Moko (1937), Port of Shadows (Le quai des brumes) (1938), American Noir Moontide (1942), Touchez Pas au Grisbi (1954) and many more French Noir, as Master Chef André Chatelin, Danièle Delorme as Catherine, Robert Arnoux as Bouvier, Liliane Bert as Antoinette, Gérard Blain (Joë Caligula - Du suif chez les dabes (1969) The American Friend (1977)) as Gérard Delacroix, Lucienne Bogaert (Le Corbeau (1943) as Gabrielle (André's e wife), Robert Manuel (Du rififi chez les hommes (1955) as Mario Bonnacorsi, Gabrielle Fontan as housekeeper Mme Jules, Germaine Kerjean as Madame Chatelin André's mother.

Les Halles

Danièle Delorme as Catherine

Les Halles. Paris' ancient fresh food central market.  Originally a dry goods market for centuries, but food stalls were added and by the fifteenth century it was the major market for the whole city. At a fortuitous corner at the edge of the bustling Les Halles Chef André Chatelin is running a very successful restaurant with a staff he treats like family. André as been divorced for twenty years. 

Jean Gabin as Master Chef André Chatelin

Gérard Delacroix a young medical student who works part time net door at the market he treats as the son he's never had. Gérard has a big shaggy dog that always accompanies him named Caesar. André lives above the restaurant. André's mother runs a country inn along the Seine about 40 kilometers down river of Paris. 

Gérard Blain as Gérard Delacroix

Into this happy, idyllic, urban setting of haute cuisine, blows a walking disaster. A blonde walking disaster.

Her name is Catherine. She is the daughter of his ex wife Gabrielle. She tells André that Gabrielle just died six days ago in Marseilles. She is broke and homeless. 

Nice guy André takes her, in gives her a job. Almost at once she begins to sow discord in various small ways between Gérard and André and to skim money from the restaurants weekly gross to support the drug habit of her mother, André's ex wife who is still very much alive.  Gabrielle is in a one room flop  in a dive, the Hôtel du Charola'š, not far from the opposite side of the market.

Lucienne Bogaert as Gabrielle

Catherine and Gabrielle have planned this whole scam from when they were back in Marseilles. Gabrielle was running a whorehouse and pimping Catherine out. She'd be turning tricks to pay off Gabrielle's pusher. Nice family. 

One day while Catherine is working at the restaurant a gaunt, unshaved, almost haunted man is seen staring through the restaurant window at Catherine. She spots him and ignores him. When Catherine sneaks out to visit Gabrielle the man follows her. 

When he catches up to Catherine just outside the Hôtel du Charola's she tells him to get lost and he throws himself into an approaching truck. Coldly, from Gabrielle's window they both watch the ambulance art away the body. 

Gabrielle and Catherine plan out their scheme. Catherine is going to seduce André and get him to marry her.  

The way the seduction goes is that Catherine fed up with Mme Jules' disparaging remarks leaves Chez Chatelin in a huff on a rain soaked day. When André comes back upstairs to the apartments after closing up the restaurant and finds that Catherine has left he gets his coat and hat to go out to search for her. 

However when he gets down the stairway he finds her sitting on the floor, three sheets to the wind drunk, at the exit to the street. She is soaked. She can't stand up. André has to carry Catherine to her room. There he has to help her take off her wet clothes.

One thing leads to another but the chivalrous André extricates himself before things go to far. Too late, he's hooked. As soon as he leaves the room Catherine becomes completely sober. It was all an act. 

Soon in a civil ceremony André and Catherine marry and Catherine doubles down with her trash talk about André with Gérard and vice versa . She tells him that André is different when that are alone, that André forced her to marry him. To André she says that Gérard is cruel and mean to her.

It all starts to go Noirsville when a restaurant customer Mario, a patron of Gabrielle's whorehouse in Marseilles tells, André not to let "that one" go. 

Robert Manuel as Mario Bonnacorsi

Then a desperate hotel concierge calls the restaurant looking for Mrs Chatelin (Catherine).  André answers and finds out that Gabrielle is still alive and going through withdrawals. Andre gets the address and visits Gabrielle. 

When Catherine comes to the hotel and finds out that Andre knows about Gabrielle, they now plan to murder André, figuring being a rich widow is just as good. Catherine seduces Gérard to get him to help her with her plot to kill André.

Noirsville

Gabrielle Fontan as Mme Jules

Germaine Kerjean as Madame Chatelin 

Not only does the film provide us with the bonus archival footage of Les Halles, but also sprinkles throughout a plethora of extra entertaining colorful tangents. The gourmand who spares no expense on meals. André's mouthwatering recitations of his specials of the day. A regular customer who is a film/theatrical agent who arrives at André's showing off his latest beautiful ingenue. They are always displaying quite a bit of cleavage. The gauche American customers one of which asks for Coca Cola. To which André replies that his restaurant is not a drug store. The bum who got a fifty franc note as a reward and wants everything on the menu.

One of the great French Film Noir 10/10