Cinema
Port of Shadows
Le Quai des brumes
Marcel Carné · 1938
Synopsis
Jean, a deserter from the colonial army, arrives in Le Havre at night, hoping to leave France. On the fog-bound port, he meets people on the margins, a painter, a small-time crook, and Nelly, a seventeen-year-old girl who is fleeing the guardianship of her godfather, Zabel, a sinister shopkeeper. A love grows between Jean and Nelly, made fragile by the threat of the gangsters and Zabel's hold over her.
Context
The film adapts a novel by Pierre Mac Orlan, for which Jacques Prévert wrote the screenplay and dialogue. The cinematography is by Eugen Schüfftan, the sets by Alexandre Trauner, the music by Maurice Jaubert, and Jean Gabin, Michèle Morgan, Michel Simon and Pierre Brasseur play the main roles. According to the Museum of Modern Art, it was Carné and Prévert's first international success. It remains one of the emblematic works of poetic realism.
Who it is for
A drama of an hour and a half, more about atmosphere than plot, emblematic of pre-war French cinema.
Prizes and reception
Prix Louis-Delluc 1939; StudioCanal restored it in 4K for its Vintage Classics collection in 2025.
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