"Non Coupable" is ahead of its time in tone and themes: I got both Claude Chabrol and Twilight Zone vibes from it. What begins as a dark thriller has evolved by the end into a profoundly (and amusingly) ironic black comedy; the ending is just about perfect. Very strong performance by Michel Simon in the lead. Avoid plot spoilers. *** out of 4.
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gridoon202431 October 2021
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boblipton19 February 2023Michel Simon is a drunk doctor with a declining practice. One evening, driving home from a dive bar, he strikes and kills a motorcyclist. Thinking fast and clearly, he makes it look like the motorcyclist had an accident. When he gets away with it, he congratulates himself on his brilliant thinking, and goes back to tending his patients with the best skill he has.
Then he discovers his mistress, Jany Holt, has been cheating on him and selling his gifts to her to give to her lover.
If you want someone to play a pitiable monster, you could not do better than Simon, and that's what director Henri Decoin has done here. He keeps his camera on Simon, surrounds him with intelligible and not particularly memorable characters -- with the exception of Jean Wall, who plays the doctor who is stealing away Simon's practice as a cold, arrogant character -- and lets Simon stand out, as he simultaneously exults in his triumphs and finds despair in the destruction of the ideals he once held. -
brogmiller22 May 2023This must assuredly be the darkest of Henri Decoin's Film Noirs whilst its bleak and pessimistic tone is matched only by that of Duvivier's masterpiece 'Panique' from the same year.
Both films happen to star Michel Simon whose character in the earlier film is a tragic victim of circumstance whereas here he is the architect of his own downfall.
The screenplay by Marc-Gilbert Sauvajon is full of Gallic irony not least the film's title for although Simon's egomamiacal doctor longs to be found guilty of committing a series of seemingly perfect murders, his buffoonish exterior renders him above suspicion. He is a monstrous creature whose monstrosity is further enhanced by cameraman Jacques Lemare's low-angle shots. The final devastating dénouement represents the ultimate irony and is far more effective than the alternative upbeat ending that Decoin was obliged to shoot.
Excellent performances from Jean Wall as a rival doctor, the always-good-value Jean Debucourt as the investigating detective and Jany Holt as Simon's increasingly terrified mistress. As for Monsieur Simon one simply runs out of superlatives when describing this magnificent artiste whose portrayal here of a vainglorious but pitiable figure adds to his gallery of masterful characterisations.
Upon reading that a proposed remake to be directed by Christopher Gans and starring Albert Dupontel never came to fruition, this viewer could not help but heave a sigh of relief. -
dbdumonteil17 August 2001This movie is proof positive that Michel Simon is one of the most prodigious actors in the whole world.As for Decoin,he's almost forgotten in France,which is a shame because some of his works equal those of his colleagues Duvivier and Clouzot.
Right from the start ,we know Doctor Ancelin(Simon) is the murderer:he's a mediocre man,the inhabitants of his small town regard him as a meek,good-but-not-too-smart guy.His partner (Holt) sleeps with the garage owner,his colleagues despise him as a barfly,he is ugly,fat ,in a nutshell,he holds a grudge against the entire community.And what a community!a journalist who rejoices when a murder is committed,(this journalist makes me think of Tatum -Kirk Douglas- in Wilder's "Big Carnival"),arrogant doctors whose main objective is social elevation,Ancelin's partner who wants to help the police just because there is a reward.This misanthropy evokes Clouzot's world.
At the wheel,Ancelin kills a man in an accident and gets away with it.Then he begins to think he could murder with impunity. Crime will provide him with the achievement he could not reach in his job or in his sentimental life.Some scenes will make your hair stand on end:after having killed her lover,Ancelin told his terrified partner that he had also planned her death,and he could easily have done away with her instead.A black cat,often shot in close-up,adds to the sometimes poesque atmosphere,and even this harmless animal will play a part in the astonishing ending.
Michel Simon gives a masterful performance,from a whisper to a scream,from logical reasoning to absolute madness.His longing to be acknowledged will not be fulfilled ,because of people's stupidity,because his crimes were too perfect,because of fate ,because of a black cat which crossed his path:the pitiful doctor will go to his grave an imbecile to the world. -
happytrigger-64-39051730 March 2022From Henry Decoin, here is another of his noir masterpieces, just remember "la Fille du diable", "l'Homme de Londres", "Entre 11 heures et minuit", "Razzia sur la chnouf", "Maléfices" among his best (forgive me if I've forgotten titles). "Non coupable" is one of Michel Simon's best movie, I just can't imagine this movie with another actor, he's so brilliant as a desperate loser trying to be a criminal genius to find a reason of living, the exact opposite of Monsieur Hire in "Panique" (shot one year earlier) who is innocent. In "Non Coupable", like in some movies by Duvivier or Dassin, I just can't see any fine character. Really dark as the cinematography by Jacques Lemare. On location, it was shot around Chartres and as many movies shot in a town, it was first shown there (like "Pontcarral" in Angoulême, "le Loup des Malveneurs" in Aurillac, "Jour de Fête" in Sainte Sévère... ). The script by Marc-Gilbert Sauvajon is perfect. I forget the second happy ending, not really satisfying. Sauvajon also wrote the excellent "Vautrin" for Michel Simon (one of his great double character) and of course worked on "la Fille du Diable".
Michel Simon was a true genius, his presence on screen remains for me the toughest ever.
"Non Coupable" belongs to his most productive period with so many masterpieces ("Vautrin", "Un ami viendra ce soir", "Panique", "la Beauté du Diable", "la Poison", "la Vie d'un honnête homme", and I admire "Un certain Monsieur Jo" in which he's again so impressively tough). In 1947, Michel Simon and Henri Decoin worked together for another forgotten masterpiece, "les Amants du Pont Saint-Jean" (with Jacques Lemare again as cinematographer). -
castro-313 July 2002this movie has all it takes to be just another whodunit but once it starts you are in a journey of self discovering of a man aware of his capabilities but with a still growing notion of where he can go. but has more two qualities. the movie is perfect showing an incredibly intelligent man without any credibility. And yet show us a believable way for the perfect crime.
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ulicknormanowen29 December 2021With "les inconnus dans la maison" (1942),Henry Decoin, one of the past masters of the French film noir,entered his more fruitful career ;but the trilogy he made before the end of WW2 (which encompass such works as "le bienfaiteur" and "l'homme de Londres ") was not entirely desesperate : some sunshine broke through .
It was no longer that way with "la fille du diable" (1945) ,the ending of which is one of the most pessimistic he ever conceived ;that may explain why "non coupable" has TWO endings :the producers suggested he film another sweetened conclusion* ,like Duvivier reluctantly did for his masterpiece "la belle équipe" (1936);now screened just after the film ,this new denouement brings nothing new and spoils the absolutely noir atmosphere of the movie: probably inspired by Fritz Lang's "woman in the window" (1944), it comes at the most awkward moment.
I suggest the 2021 (soon to be 2022) viewer leave after the director's cut (or turn off his TV set ) for ,as Decoin intended it , it is one of the apex of French film noir and begins where the precedent movie left ; the comparison is not irrelevant :both movies feature an outcast ,Isabelle ,'the Devil's daughter" in the 1945 effort Ancelin in "non coupable" ,a barfly doctor despised by the whole town ,including his colleague ,a smug elegant man who loves to bring him down ;in their scene together ,the words do not cut,they bite.
In both movies ,the press plays a prominent part :the cynical journalist in "non coupable" , Isabelle's cuttings in "la fille du diable".
I dare you to find ONE nice character in "non coupable" ; the crimes may be implausible (one of the main reproaches when the movie was released )but they inspire the director's extremism :based on a Marc -Gilbert Sauvageon 's screenplay ,it depicts the hypocrisy and the wickedness which linger on even when the customers have left the bistro ,leaving the human wreck with the owner and the waitress.
Michel Simon ,one of five greatest actors of the French cinema , gives a superlative performance ,in the part of a man rejected by a whole town (like in Duvivier's masterful "panique"(1945) ). Good support from Jany Holt as his wife and from Jean Wall as honorable doctor Dormont.
. *"les amants sont seuls au monde " (1947) has also another sweetened ending ;producers like happy ends best . -
zutterjp4830 June 2021The description of a small town, a doctor whose life is mediocre, committed an deadly accident and begins to think about the perfect crime. The balack and white helps us to feel this dark story.
A very brillant performance of Michel Simon, one of the greatest actors of the beginning of the last century. -
pbczf3 April 2023Most people in the town, and all of its circle of important men, see Dr Ancelin as a failure like Charles Bovary: a hopeless, provincial drudge who works twice as hard to achieve half as much. But Ancelin has no Emma at his side (indeed, he terrifies his mistress Madeline, who is also cheating on him). He relies on alcohol and self-pity to get through the day as he sinks ever lower in the esteem of most of his neighbors, and perhaps himself. A fatal accident caused by the inebriated doctor provides the catalyst for the film's plot, in the course of which the good doctor tries to rehabilitate himself, at least in his own eyes, by a series of murders.
The view of life and human nature is about as bleak as it gets. Michel Simon embodies Ancelin's unpredictable violence and loathing, both for himself and just about everyone around him. His style of acting, looser and more uninhibited, contrasts with the classical style of the rest of the cast and makes the point even more forcefully.
Like Henri-Georges Clouzot, Henri Decoin directed films in France during the occupation (though, unlike Clouzot, he was not prohibited from directing after the war). Films like Clouzot's 'The Raven' ('Le corbeau') and Decoin's 'Non coupable' explore the realities of life under occupation decades before France would begin to deal with them publicly. Things that try to stay hidden have a terrible cost.