PANIQUE (1946)

Monsieur Hire (Michel Simon) is a bit of a misanthropic cold fish. He makes his living as Dr. Varga, an astrologer, and is not well liked by his neighbors. Alice (Viviane Romance, pictured), a young woman just released from a 6-month stretch in prison, comes to town and moves into an apartment across an alley from Hire, and she is a bit unnerved to find Hire frequently watching her from his window. She is in a relationship with another villager, Freddy (Paul Bernard), and, as we find out, she was in prison because she took a criminal rap for him. A carnival comes to town and in the process of setting up, Mme. Noblet is found dead, murdered and half-buried, and the gossiping villagers suspect everyone. Meanwhile, the unfriendly loner Hire develops a crush on Alice and has taken to following her around town. Eventually, Hire warns her that he knows that Freddy killed Mme. Noblet and stole 700 francs from her. At first, she refuses to believe it, but soon, Freddy confesses to her that he is the murderer. Alice at first seems horrified by his confession, but before long, the two decide to frame the unlikable Hire as the killer by hiding Noblet's purse in his apartment. Things soon fall apart for all concerned.

Based on a novel by popular mystery writer Georges Simenon, this certainly skirts film noir territory in terms of themes and plot even if it doesn't have that notable urban noir look—though the village nighttime scenes are striking. No one in the central triangle is likable and I found my sympathies, such as they were, shifting from time to time. We are set up to like Alice, despite her misguided love for the slimy Freddy, but the moment when she hears Freddy's confession is one I’ll remember for a long time: as Freddy talks, the camera holds a close-up on her face as she seems to be shocked by what she hears, but we soon realize that what she was really pondering was how to help Freddy get away with it. Our feelings about her go through another shift later and the final 15 minutes becomes a study in mass hysteria. The director, Julien Duvivier, is clearly critiquing the witch hunt/lynch mob mentality that undoubtedly affected many French citizens during the war, primarily with regard to Jews but also to punishing supposed collaborators, but the movie never becomes coldly symbolic as we come to have complicated feelings about most of the characters. The three chief actors are all fine, especially Romance, with Simon having the toughest character, a man we dislike while still having some empathy for him. Despite the connection to Simenon, this isn't primarily a crime film as much as a noirish psychological thriller, and a fine one. [Criterion Channel]