570 - La Poison, France, 1951. Dir. Sacha Guitry.
Paul and his wife Blandine have been married for 30 years.
To celebrate, she goes to the local pharmacy and purchases rat poison. Enough to kill four men. But intended for only one man. Paul.
She hides it on the top shelf behind the seasonal plates, where she has to stand on a chair to reach it. He will never find it there.
While Blandine is at the pharmacy, Paul is at the church--or the rectory--standing outside talking to the priest through the open window. As it is not a confession, Paul is not repentant, but he has no reservations in telling Fr. Methivier how he really feels about his wife.
She drinks three bottles of wine a day. With ensuing verbal abandon she belittles, degrades, maligns, and disparages him. Other than that, they get along greatly.
The neighbors in their provincial town know of their feud and talk about it among themselves. When Blandine gets particularly loud, Paul opens the windows for all to hear.
The town also longs to gain national attention. They are on the road not taken by travellers, and they want something to put them on the map to generate tourism. A group of them goes to Fr. Methivier to suggest he stage a miracle so that people will come to see where it occurred. Shocked by their request, he confirms that he will pray for a miracle. In their hearts.
It turns out that Paul will give them what they want.
One night over dinner, as Blandine swoons from drink, the radio cuts from its usual romantic music (playing in ironic juxtaposition to the Braconnier marriage) to an interview with celebrated Parisian defense attorney Aubanel, who has just successfully won his 100th defense. He specializes in the murder of spouses.
Encouraged, Paul visits Paris, where he misleads Aubanel into thinking he has already eliminated his wife. Aubanel's counsel for Paul's defense, without Aubanel's knowing it, provides Paul with the knowledge he needs to perform the crime and get away with it.
Paul returns home with a plan.
But Blandine also has a plan.
The pharmacist has knowledge.
The townspeople have rumors.
And the children have games to play. Games called "Husband and Wife," which involve playacting with knives and poison and guillotines.
Sacha Guitry is unrelenting in his commentary.
Who will drink the poison?
Who will survive?
Who will survive not only the upcoming mariticide/uxoricide, but also the trial to follow?
Or will no one?
Our man Michel Simon plays Paul, his first time to film with Sacha Guitry and twenty years after his turn as verbally abused husband Maurice Legrand in Jean Renoir's La Chienne (1931). Michel Simon is still firing on all cylinders.
* * * *
"Since you kindly asked me for a dedication, here it is.
Michel Simon, this film offers me one of my greatest joys from the theater--because I cannot keep from calling it theater. You had never acted for me before. You are exceptional, even unique.
Between the moments when you are you and when you start to act, it is impossible to find the bridge. It is the same when you stop acting and become yourself--to such a degree that there is no reason to stop shooting.
You belong among the greats: Frederic Lamaitre, Sarah Bernhardt, my father, Zacconi, and Chaliapin. Like them, you stand apart and are isolated. Like them, you possess that precious virtue that cannot be acquired or passed on. A flair for the theater. Meaning, the talent to share with others feelings you yourself do not have. You are not an actor who surrounds himself with a troupe. You are not an actor who teaches. Because, what is so wonderful about you cannot be learned and certainly cannot be taught."
- Sacha Guitry.
* * * *
Michel Simon was the great French film star before Jean Gabin took that title.
We have seen Michel Simon in the following films:
The Passion of Joan of Arc, Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1927.
https://realbillbillions.blogspot.com/2017/07/200-passion-of-joan-of-arc-1928-denmark.html
La Chienne, Jean Renoir, 1931.
https://realbillbillions.blogspot.com/2017/02/056-la-chienne-1931-france-dir-jean.html
Boudu Saved from Drowning, Jean Renoir, 1932.
https://realbillbillions.blogspot.com/2017/02/057-boudu-saved-from-drowning-1932.html
l'Atalante, Jean Vigo, 1934.
https://realbillbillions.blogspot.com/2017/03/074-latalante-1934-france-dir-jean-vigo.html
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