珍妮 Jenny (1936)

Jenny" inaugurates the famous series of movies which made Marcel Carné one of the most brilliant directors of the era.From 1936 to 1946,with scenarist Jacques Prévert (and once with Henri Jeanson)he created what the critics called the "réalisme poétique".One should note that Carné himself used to hate this label.But who cares when you deal with such works as "quai des brumes" "le jour se lève " and "les enfants du paradis" ,to name but three? Jenny (Françoise Rosay) is a madam,and when her daughter comes back from England,she does not want her to find out what her job is really like.The plot is rather melodramatic and a bit cheesy,but the cast,including Jean-Louis Barrault,Charles Vanel and Robert Le Vigan is first-rate .A dirty world ,which is compared to the silt at the bottom of muddy waters.And as Jenny's final line says :"when you're at the bottom,you've got to stay at the bottom".