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L'Étrange Monsieur Victor
1937 Drama
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Credits
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Director: Jean Grémillon
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Script: Marcel Achard, Charles Spaak, Albert Valentin
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Photo: Werner Krien
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Cast: Andrex,
Raimu (Monsieur Victor),
Pierre Blanchar (Bastien Robineau),
Madeleine Renaud,
Armand Larcher,
Viviane Romance,
Charles Blavette,
Edouard Delmont (Paroli),
Georges Flamant,
Marcelle Géniat,
Odette Roger
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Country: France
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Language: French
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Runtime: 103 min; B&W
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Aka: Strange M. Victor
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Summary
Outwardly, Monsieur Victor is the model citizen – a respectable Toulon shopkeeper,
with a loving wife, courteous and charming to all. However, behind this veneer of
respectability hides a notorious receiver of stolen goods, who trades with hardened crooks.
Victor manages to keep up his double life with no problems, until the day when one of
his crooks threatens to blackmail him. Fearing a scandal, Victor kills the crook
in a moment of panic, using a shoemaker’s tool. The murder is blamed on a
local shoemaker, who is sentenced to ten years’ hard labour. Seven years later,
the former shoemaker reappears in Toulon. The first person to recognise him is Monsieur
Victor…
Review
L’Étrange Monsieur Victor is unquestionably one of Jean Grémillon’s
best films, an atmospheric, sombre tale of guilt, betrayal and retribution. The
alternating moods of the settings – from the intimate family scenes in Victor’s
household to the clandestine meetings between Victor and his criminal allies – reflect
the changing moods of the central protagonist, Victor, played by the incomparable Raimu.
Far from being a conventional villain, Victor is a complex and passionate individual,
one who is capable of great kindness, and also great brutality. It is the conflict
between his own guilt and the need to defend his family, ironically his better qualities,
which ultimately destroy him.
In one of the best in this legendary actor’s many towering film performances, Raimu
dominates every scene he appears in. He is both sympathetic and menacing in a way
that perhaps no actor of her era could be. It is his presence in this film, more
than anything, which makes it such a memorable film, affording it the status of a masterpiece.
This is not to underrate the contribution made by Raimu’s co-stars, which include
the excellent Pierre Blanchar, Madeleine Renaud and Viviane Romance.
© James Travers 2001
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