Les jeux sont faits (1947)

Director:

Jean Delannoy

Writers:

Jacques-Laurent Bost (writer)
Jean Delannoy (writer)

Release Date:

2 July 1947 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

Two people learn to love each other in the afterlife and get a second chance.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Afterlife | Second Chance | Ghost | Death

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Micheline Presle	...	Eva Charlier
Marcello Pagliero	...	Pierre Dumaine
Marguerite Moreno	...	La dame de l'au-delà
Charles Dullin	...	Le marquis
Fernand Fabre	...	André Charlier
Jacques Erwin	...	Jean Aguerra
Colette Ripert	...	Lucette
Marcel Mouloudji	...	Lucien Derjeu
Guy Decomble	...	Poulain
Howard Vernon	...	Le chef milicien
Jim Gérald	...	Renaudel
Renaud Mary	...	Un milicien
André Carnège	...	Le ministre de la justice
Andrée Ducret	...	Madame Astin
Robert Dalban	...	Georges

Also Known As:

Second Chance (II) (International: English title) (informal title)
The Chips Are Down

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16

Company:

Les Films Gibé

They were meant for each other,but..

Whadaya say Jean Delannoy ain't high culture?This is Jean-Paul Sartre!Will this director suffer for eternity from the reputation he got from the "nouvelle vague " clique?At least an user without bias has already written to tell his admiration for "les jeux sont faits".

"Les jeux sont faits" is an unfairly almost unknown movie in France and elsewhere,sometimes by people who praise such works as "heaven can wait" (1943 and 1978)," a matter of life and death" (Powell,1946),"une simple formalité" (Tornatore,circa 1998) and even "the sixth sense"(1999).

Two young people (Micheline Presle and Marcel Pagliero)come back from the realm of the Dead because they "were meant for each other".Their love must overcome everything or else they will have to go back .It might seem easy,but they had not reckoned on there being a society...The others... In "huis clos",there's Sartre's famous sentence "l'enfer c'est les autres"(=hell comes from the other ones")She comes from a wealthy milieu ,he's a working-class hero.Too many things come between them ."Les jeux sont faits" ,from the very beginning.

A good editing, an intriguing "paradise"(?) without a single religious touch,the person who facilitates the communication between the two worlds being an ordinary secretary (a wonderful Marguerite Moreno).And the last picture is poetic and ,what might seem strange in Sartre's world,leaves some hope to the viewer.

Outside the already mentioned works,people who like this should catch "Orphée" (Jean Cocteau,1950) and ,above all,"huis clos"(Jacqueline Audry,one of the very few women who were directors at the time,1954).