MUBI brings you a great new film every day.  Start your 7-day free trial today!
Watch a new film every day for $4.99.
Try MUBI for FREE.
 

Le jour se lève

France

1939

93 Min
Black and White
1.33:1
French
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

   |   

DIR Marcel Carné

SCR Jacques Viot

DP Philippe Agostini, André Bac, Albert Viguier

CAST Jean Gabin, Jules Berry, Mady Berry, Arletty, Jacqueline Laurent

ED René Le Henaff

PROD DES Alexandre Trauner

MUSIC Maurice Jaubert

Venice (In Competition), Berlinale (Retrospective)

Synopsis

The culmination of Poetic Realist cinema of the 1930s, Le jour se lève was Marcel Carné’s third collaboration with screenwriter and poet Jacques Prevert. A story of obsessive sexuality and murder—in which working class everyman François (Jean Gabin) resorts to killing in order to free the woman he loves from the controlling influence of another man—Le jour se lève cemented the enormous reputations of Gabin and Carné. —The Criterion Collection

Director

Original

Marcel Carné

Between 1936 and 1946, Marcel Carné was among the chief proponents of poetic realism, a studio-bound film style that combined theatrical themes with elaborate dialogues which depicted ordinary people attempting to contend with the unalterable nature of destiny. The shadowy fatalism of poetic realism presaged the more popular American film noir. Though the style was created by Jacques Feyder, with whom Carné apprenticed, it was Carné and poet/screenwriter Jacques Prévert who brought it to its full fruition with Enfants du Paradise (Children of Paradise) (1945), a work still considered one of France’s greatest films. Born and raised in Montmarte, Carné was originally slated to work for an insurance agency by his father, a cabinetmaker. Carné, however, was more interested in movies and secretly attended evening classes on cinematography with the Paris city council-sponsored Association Philomantique. Without telling his father, Carné left the agency in 1928 to work as an assistant cameraman… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 of 9 wall posts.
Picture of Christopher M. Jones

Christopher M. Jones

14Jan13

What a dumb reason to cap someone. That was one hell of a final scene, though.

Picture of lauli

lauli

24Dec12

Though not as good as Enfants du Paradise, which is one of my favourite films ever, this movie is a fine example of Carné's excellence as a director, with some of the most beautiful and haunting images in cinema. The cinematography, the music, not to mention Gabin's masterful performance, all contribute to make this film a memorable experience.

Picture of Trolley Freak

Trolley Freak

8Aug12

A year after their masterpiece Port Of Shadows, the Carné/Prévert team reuinted with Gabin for another exemplary example of poetic realism. Holed up in his attic room awaiting arrest by the police, a factory worker reflects on how he ended up in this hopeless position. Less than a decade later the film was remade in Hollywood as The Long Night with Henry Fonda in the Gabin role. It was nowhere near as good as this...

Picture of Howard Orr

Howard Orr

25Dec11

Gabin is badass as usual, but with added vulnerability in this one. The look of finally released rage as he shoots Jules Berry is quality acting. It seems to sum up the vituperative mood of the tumultuous times in one explosive moment.

Related Films

Fans

Displaying 5 of 206 fans.

Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
W184

Movie Poster of the Week: Jean Grémillon’s “Remorques” and the Posters of the French Old Wave

By Adrian Curry on August 18, 2012

A look at some of the best original French posters for the films in Film Forum’s current series: The French Old Wave.

read article
W184

Images of the day. From Sketch to the Screen: "Hôtel du Nord" (1938)

By Ehsan Khoshbakht on October 9, 2010

Above: Alexandre Trauner's sketch for Canal Saint-Martin and Hotel (second building from right). Besides classical Hollywood, one of the other

read article

Lists

Displaying 5 of 91 lists.

Reviews

Displaying 2 of 2

Le Jour Se Leve

By Adam Suraf on November 3, 2011
You can’t get out of French Cinema 101 without coming across Marcel Carne, and if not “Hotel Du Nord”, “Port of Shadows”, and “Children of Paradise”, this famous war’s eve masterpiece usually suffices…

poetic fatalism pre-noir

By Musycks on March 4, 2009

Le Jour Se Leve is another gleaming gem in the Marcel Carne canon. His work from the mid 1930’s to the late ’40’s represents some of the finest sustained filmmaking in the history of cinema, and when…  read review

Forum

Displaying 0 discussion topics.