Huis clos (1954)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Jacqueline Audry

Writers:

Pierre Laroche (writer)
Jean-Paul Sartre (play)

Release Date:

22 December 1954 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

L'enfer C'est Les Autres | Lesbian | Based On Play

Cast

Arletty	...	Inès
Franck Villard	...	Garcia
Gaby Sylvia	...	Estelle Rigault
Yves Deniaud	...	Le garçon d'étage
Nicole Courcel	...	Olga
Jean Debucourt	...	Le général
Suzanne Dehelly	...	La vieille dame
Paul Frankeur	...	Gomez, le compagnon de Garcin
Renaud Mary	...	Le réceptionniste de l'hôtel
Jean Murat	...	Le mari d'Estelle
Isabelle Pia	...	La jeune fille
Arlette Thomas	...	Mme Garcin
Morena Casamance	...	La maîtresse de Garcin
Michèle Cordoue	...	Une amie de Mme Garcin
Giani Esposito	...	Diego, le disciple de Garcin

Also Known As:

No Exit

Runtime:

France:95 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Les Films Marceau

Before Agnès Varda,there was Jacqueline Audry.

...Probably the first important woman director France has ever known.Male chauvinism:her movies are very rarely broadcast on TV and her name is slowly fading.

She often adapted Colette's works for the screen,but here,she tackles Jean-Paul Sartre ,no less!It's the philosopher's most famous drama (with its immortal sentence :"l'enfer,c'est les autres" (= Hell is

other people).Audry had to cope with problems inherent to any adaptation of a play:she succeeded quite good by using flashbacks -like Mankiewicz would do for "suddenly last summer"-,and inventing a very brilliant first scene:Alan Parker might have seen the movie,because he uses the elevator in "Angel heart" (1987)the same way Audry did in 1954.

Most of all,she's got three convincing actors,two of whom are unfortunately forgotten today (Gaby Sylvia was essentially a stage actress and Frank Villard was cast against type here:he was the tough male raider type:but convincing anyway).The third one is none other than the great Arletty:after "les enfants du paradis",like so many others who "collaborated" during the occupation -her only sin was to fall in love with a German:she said afterwards "My heart is French,but my a.. is international!"-she was blacklisted and when she could return,she was relegated to small parts -but she triumphed on the stage notably with Blanche's part in "streetcar named desire"-."Huis clos" is one of her rare leading parts after the war.She outdoes herself here ,playing lesbian Inès so intensely she's almost frightening and threatening.As historian Jean Tulard said "she was our best actress"

"Huis clos" is really interesting and will reward you if you give it a chance.Three people (alive or dead no matter)tearing each others to pieces.

If you like it,try "les jeux sont faits" another Sartre adaptation by Jean Delannoy