Cinema
Lady Killer
Gueule d'amour
Jean Grémillon · 1937
Synopsis
Lucien Bourrache, a non-commissioned officer of spahis garrisoned at Orange, seduces so many women that he is nicknamed Gueule d'amour. On leave in Cannes, he meets Madeleine at the casino, an elegant and mysterious woman, and loses to her the inheritance he had just received. Smitten, he leaves the army and finds her again in Paris, but Madeleine, attached to money and luxury, does not return the passion he bears her.
Context
The film adapts a novel by André Beucler. Co-produced by UFA and its French subsidiary ACE, it was shot at the Babelsberg studios, near Berlin, and on location in Orange, Cannes and Paris, with a German technical crew. Charles Spaak wrote the screenplay. It brought together Jean Gabin and Mireille Balin a few months after Pépé le Moko, and the character's nickname remained attached to the actor for a long time. A restored print was presented at Cannes Classics in 2016.
Who it is for
An hour and a half; the film shifts from garrison comedy to drama, and the second half is darker.
Prizes and reception
Released in the autumn of 1937, it counts among the films of poetic realism and among its director's successes.
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