... and so does Cayette. On the other hand Cayette spent virtually all his career blaming somebody. It's a sobering thought that Ken Loach probably hero-worshipped Cayette and almost certainly saw him as a role model. There is, thankfully, one large difference between guru and disciple and that is that unlike Loach Cayette doesn't forget to add a top layer to his diatribes in the shape of Entertainment. He actually provides a storyline that CAN, if one is so inclined, be viewed merely as drama, the Social Comment is there all right but unlike Loach it's not in yer face so if, for example, you want to view this film as nothing more than the tale of a group of youngsters who feel alienated and/or dispossessed and embark on a naive scheme to bankroll a trip to their idea of paradise then do that. These kids are in their mid teens so that in 1954 they'd lived through most of WW2 and the period of austerity that followed; the Cold War is well underway as is Korea so little wonder they dream of tropical islands if only they had some serious money. We know because we've seen movies like The Asphalt Jungle - and will see it's successor The Killing in a couple of years - that even robberies that are planned meticulously over months and to the last detail have a way of unravelling if only because Crime could not be SEEN to pay in those halcyon days so what chance a scheme based on I'll cosy up to this rich guy, accept an invitation to his apartment and THEN, while his back's turned I'll leave the french window unlocked so that YOU can get in and take anything portable that we can sell. Oh, yes, should you be disturbed in the middle of this, by a cop, for example, you're on your own. Exactly. Which is, of course, what happens. Cayette, who was not averse to dealing with such emotive subjects as euthanasia starts by framing the parents in the courtroom as if it is them and not the kids who are on trial and he allows each one a flashback to reinforce the culpability. Overall it's a fine film with a cast largely unknown outside France with the exception of Bernard Blier and certainly has value as an example of domestic cinema in the early fifties.
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writers_reign28 November 2006
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brogmiller15 October 2020The 'flood' of the title refers to the threat of nuclear war which at the time in which this film is set seemed a distinct possibility with the Korean War raging.
Who among us has not fantasised about escaping from grim reality to a tropical island paradise? The five adolescents in this decide to do just that but being short of funds they plan a burglary to finance the trip. What could be simpler? Needless to say everything goes horribly wrong.......... Former lawyer Andre Cayatte has never been one to shy away from contentious topics and here he has again collaborated on the script with Charles Spaak. Cayatte's searching camera means there is no hiding place for his characters and although the youths are on trial for murder it is their parents who are in the dock. Cayatte regards these parents as being equally culpable either through their blindness, neglect, possessiveness, prejudice or self-obsession.
One can be sure that Cayatte will always draw the very best from his cast and every performance is spot on. According to Marina Vlady this was a stressful film for her to make as she felt that her relative inexperience was a liability and that Cayatte had regretted hiring her. She comes through with flying colours however and having survived the nickname 'Miss Body 1960' went on to give some stunning performances. Ironically she was denied entry to the screening at Cannes as the film was considered unsuitable for those under sixteen.
Representing the seniors are Bernard Blier, Isa Miranda, Paul Frankeur, Line Noro and Antoine Balpetre. The latter's character is virulently anti-Semitic which does not bode well for one of the youths whose name is Daniel Epstein!
This is one of Cayatte's longer films and although slowly paced with wordy exchanges and little camera movement it succeeds in holding one's attention.
Some reviewers at the time found it too dark and gloomy but it received the International Critics prize at Cannes and did very well commercially. Let us hope this caused Cayatte to feel that there is some justice after all. -
dbdumonteil30 June 2003That was the beginning of the era when André Cayatte was championing all the good causes.Coming after "justice est faite"(about euthanasia) and "nous sommes tous des assassins" (about the death penalty,a subject which was unusual at the time),"avant le déluge" showed the youth's anguish after WW2,when they talked about a third world war in the fifties. Unable to relate to their parents,and frightened by the bleak future that was left for them ,a girl and four boys want to do what Noah did:escape to an Island in the sun on a boat.But their disposable funds are low and they get involved with robbery and murder,which leads them to their standing trial.
In fact,Cayatte put the parents in trial,and if his plea was unsubtle and devoid of nuance,it was a heartfelt account of an utterly distraught generation.
ANOTHER LOOK AT "AVANT LE DELUGE"(2006)
Given the rating on the IMDb board,and the very poor reviews it gets in French books,it' s obvious that this movie needs reassessment.
"It is a dated movie, sneer French critics,forgetting that it's its greatest quality:it is a film which was made in the early fifties and it does belong to that era.one cannot think of such a screenplay in our (troubled however) times.and nevertheless ,the movie had problems with the censorship which found it hard to believe such youngsters could turn into criminals.the movie repeats it twice "he is only 17" "he's just turned seventeen" "she's not seventeen".The movie got a PG 16 although ,except for one sequence ,it is not violent,even compared to its time's standards.
these are not natural born killers.they became murderers by chance.with a little luck,things would have worked out fine.and there are the parents....
....blame it on mama ,on papa! Cayatte holds the parents responsible for everything.Once again,it was trendy to laugh at Cayatte in those fusty Cahiers du Cinema .The parents are caricatures ,stereotypes,but the director wanted them to be so.....WW2 collaborator whose hate for Jews verges on paranoia ....liberal father whose naiveté predates May 68 and the post-81 disappointment (left/right/left/right,it is all the same)....wealthy parents whose concern is to make sure their fortune will be safe when the flood comes....over possessive mother whose son has difficulties finding his sexual identity.....and no parents at all ,as far as the young Jew is concerned....
These parents are afraid...they fear that the Corean war might turn WW3.They never stop talking about this impending war.That's why their sons and daughter are beyond their command: fifteen years later,they would have gone to India ,or become hippies.In 1953,it is still the old dream of sailing away to the islands in the sun (see " Quai des Brumes " or" les Portes dela Nuit" )A critic noticed that the film the young Jew shows to his friend ,a shy boy under his mom's thumb, (one of the other boys even uses the word "minion" )features only male natives;their relationship is certainly homosexual,even if the repressed young man cannot take the plunge. This is really a lost generation,the generation who will be sacrificed in another dirty war in Algeria.The last pictures ,even if WW3 will not happen , pack a real wallop and are not telling the audience "we've had a narrow escape" but "watch out it's not over,it has just begun"
those parents are in fact no more stereotypes than Nicholas Ray's families in "rebel without a cause" .when Philippe screams "Mom ! please help me" behind her locked door ,he is not more ridiculous than Dean or Wood in the American movie.
Best scene: the killing of Daniel.Remembering what his crazy father said about the Jews ,in his black raincoat ,Jean does what the Gestapo used to do ten years before.
For this is a film noir,full of despair and pessimism;Cayatte's most complex work, admired by Bergman and Bunuel,it has worn remarkably well,just because it is a dated work:unique. -
tony-70-66792025 September 2020In 1971 Philip Larkin wrote "They mess you up your mum and dad / They don't mean to but they do / They give you all the faults they had / And add some others just for you." Cayatte's film, made in 1953, has the same theme. It starts with four young people on trial for robbery, manslaughter and murder; they're all under 17, and the girl (Marina Vlady) is only 15. As the film develops we see how they got there. Robert and Liliane are in love. His father was an enthusiastic collaborator, and spent five years in prison after the war; now out of work, the father blames the Jews for all his misfortunes. She has a liberal, pacifist father (and a really tiresome Communist brother.) Philippe's dad is a businessman, determined to protect his wealth and survive the war everybody fears, while his mother is desperate to cling on to her beauty and her lover, who's losing interest. Jean is the ultimate weak mummy's boy, and is obviously in love with Daniel, a Jewish boy whose parents perished in WW2. I hadn't realised that ten years before the Cuban Missile Crisis there had been similar fears of WW3 erupting, this time over the Korean War. The youngsters dream of escaping to a South Sea island, but to finance this pipe dream they need a lot of money, and that leads to tragedy. Robert, in the most shocking scene, turns from a sympathetic character to one his father would be proud of, even sporting the black leather coat favoured by the Gestapo. Although the film is long, it never drags. My only quibbles came near the end. The jury's verdict on Liliane made no sense, nor did Robert's assertion "We didn't steal." None of the young male actors made much impression in films, but the adults are top-notch : Blier, Balpetre, Frankeur and Castelot feature strongly in other Cayatte films. This is the ninth I've seen, and for me only "Shopgirls of Paris" was a dud. I'm grateful to dbdumonteil for arousing my interest in this director, and to Movie Detective for making so many of his unjustly neglected films available, with good prints and English subtitles.