Marie-Octobre

14 years after the end of the war, the former members of a Resistance cell gather in a villa at the invitation of Marie-Octobre (Danielle Darrieux) and the owner of the estate (Paul Meurisse). At their last meeting, shortly before the liberation from the German occupiers, the Gestapo had stormed the estate and shot Castille, the leader of the group. He still seems to hover over the meeting like the ghost of a martyr, as it is clear that one of the former resistance fighters must have betrayed the meeting to the enemy, meaning that the former informant is also in the room. Duvivier celebrates a claustrophobic, virtuoso cat-and-mouse game told in real time, in which each of the people present is as much cat as mouse. Ever new variations, abysses and possible motives come to light until the perpetrator reveals himself in the end and the question of his atonement or punishment inevitably comes to the fore. (Frederik Lang)

Photo: Austrian Film Museum