| Marie of the Port | |
| Producer: | Sacha Gordine |
| Director: | Marcel Carné |
| Based On: | La Marie du port by Georges Simenon |
| Starring: | Jean Gabin Blanchette Brunoy Nicole Courcel |
| Music: | Joseph Kosma |
| Cinematography: | Henri Alekan |
| Editing: | Léonide Azar |
| Color Process: | Black and white |
| Studio: | Films Sacha Gordine |
| Distributor: | Les Films Corona |
| Runtime: | 97 minutes |
| Country: | France |
| Language: | French |
La Marie du port (Marie of the Port) is a 1950 French crime film directed by Marcel Carné and starring Jean Gabin, Blanchette Brunoy and Nicole Courcel.[1] [2] [3] The screenplay was written by Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes and Jacques Prévert, based on the 1938 novel of the same title by Georges Simenon. The music score is by Joseph Kosma and the cinematography by Henri Alekan. It was made at the Saint-Maurice Studios in Paris and on location around Cherbourg in Normandy. The film marked a comeback for Carné after the poor reception of his previous film Gates of the Night in 1946 and several subsequent unsuccessful attempts to launch projects.[4]
Henri, owner of a busy brasserie and cinema in Cherbourg, takes the easy-going Odile who lives with him to the funeral of her father in Port-en-Bessin. The two are bored with each other. He waits for her in a café where he is taken with a new waitress called Marie, unaware that she is Odile's tough little sister. He buys an old trawler in Port-en-Bessin, which he visits often to oversee its restoration and to pursue Marie. She has a young admirer called Marcel who gets drunk and is knocked down by Henri's car. Henri takes the lad to his apartment in Cherbourg, where Odile can look after him. One day the provocative Marie turns up at Cherbourg, tantalising Henri but not giving in. Tired of trying to seduce her, he takes her to Marcel's room, where they find Odile in bed with him. Disgusted with all three, Marie gets a bus home. A phone call from there about his boat warns Henri that Marie has been threatening to throw herself into the sea. He drives over in haste and she tells him she can in fact swim like a fish. As a last effort at winning her, he slips the keys to his business into her victorious hand.
The film had a significant impact on Gabin's star personae, shifting from the doomed man established in pre-war Poetic Realism to the more mature, assured and powerful figure he would make his hallmark over the next two following decades.[5] The contemporary American version was significantly edited and is noticeably shorter.[6]