Boulevard (1960) User Reviews

Pigalle blues.

[dbdumonteil · 7/10 · 15 February 2006]

François Truffaut's protégé directed by Julien Duvivier!I was skeptical about it.I really hate Leaud's acting which represents for me the worst of the French cinema,the so called works reserved for the elite ,the likes of Godard and Rivette.

I've got to make amends:Jean-Pierre Léaud -who had just made "les 400 coups" - manages to stay very natural,very convincing ,nothing of the affected acting which would be his late sixties trademark.Léaud got a raw deal during his childhood ,they say, and we can feel it every step of the way along the "boulevard".

The simple nature of "Boulevard" may mean that some viewers will pass it over quickly -or dismiss it as a "400 coups" remake- since it's a grower ,but spend some time with it and it becomes clear that it's really Duvivier's world ,a world that existed long before Truffaut began to work.

"Boulevard" depicts a colorful microcosm:that of Montmartre/Pigalle fifty years ago.But what lies beneath is Duvivier's noir philosophy :Man is evil,period.The best scenes are the ones which take place on the roofs near a huge neon sign;from a distance,when the Sacré Coeur is lit up at night,the young hero is full of hope ;but when he knows the other side of the picture ,that is to say when he's got to live in a world made by man,it's another story.

With the exception of the two gay artists -and the scene when Leaud poses for them as Narcissus is worth the price of admission-,the hero is searching someone he can put his trust in: The boxer(Pierre Mondy)is a washout more pitiful than really perverse .Just hear Leaud scream "Tocard!Tocard!Tocard! " (=dead loss!) The two female characters :the bitch (Magali Noel) and the pure young wop girl ,they are all much of a muchness.

And finally the father:he left his son when he got married again.Duvivier's genius shines in the sequence where a desperate Leaud comes to his father's place and begs for some Francs.Duvivier needs only one shot to depict the stepmother:behind her till,she resembles Germaine Kerjean in "Voici le Temps des Assassins" (1956),Duvivier's latter days' masterpiece.

SPOILER:the final on the roofs with Leaud destroying the neon sign and the father coming to his rescue is a faux happy end:when the picture fades to black , you can hear both of them laugh, a sinister laugh over Jean -Claude Pascal's melancholy song .

NB :In "le Diable et les dix Commandements " ,the segment starring Alain Delon,Madeleine Robinson and Danielle Darrieux would come back to childhood tragedy.

Ev'ry Street's A Boulevard In Old Pigalle ...

[writers_reign · 8/10 · 11 March 2006]

... and ev'ry hope's a dream. This is late Duvivier but fleeting glimpses of the style remain, like sepia snapshots seen under water, Duvivier has always depicted the richness of the milieu, the overlooked characters who people it unobtrusively like insects under stones. Jean-Pierre Melville beat him to it in the case of Pigalle, depicting it vibrantly in his Bob, Le Flambeur a little earlier but Duvivier is no less telling if no longer original. The top billing of Jean-Pierre Leaud was off-putting, carrying with it as it does the baggage of pretentiousness associated with Truffaut but the superior director Duvivier succeeds in getting Leaud to act natural and shed the Truffaut-inflected mannerisms and so turn in a respectable performance that makes us forget within minutes the excruciating 400 Yawns. Academics and their ilk will be out wet-dreaming each other at Duvivier's framing of Leaud on the roof-top with the Sacre Coeur above him and the sleaze of Pigalle below (Heaven-Hell, geddit) but the non-pseuds among us will accept it a face value. Not top-drawer Duvivier but even bottom-drawer Duvivier outguns Godard who doesn't POSSESS a top drawer or even a bottom one. Unpretentious and entertaining what more, after all, can a film aspire to.

The Musketeer Of Pig Alley

[boblipton · 7/10 · 11 October 2023]

Jean-Pierre Leaud lives in a garret in Pigalle, the heart of Montmartre. His widowed father has taken up with a woman, and Leaud walked out to make his own way,but it's a ot harder than he ever thought. Alternately a fast-talking braggart, and a helpless child, he has a crush on exotic dancer Magali Noël that lasts until she takes up with washed-up boxer Pierre Mondi. Then it's the young neighbor Monique Brienne, but he's broke and too embarrassed.

Leaud had just begun his career as Truffaut's alter ego, but here under the direction of Julien Duvivier he gives a clearer portrayal of a street kid, sixteen years old, knowing exactly how the world should run and unbearably angry over the fact that it doesn't. Duvivier's Montmartre is just as reckless as it had been in the previous century, but now the locals wear ties and jackets and aspire to get out; but their world is even more circumscribed.

"Eating with you'd give me indigestion."

[morrison-dylan-fan · 10/10 · 14 July 2016]

After enjoying Jacques Becker's spectacular 1949 French New Wave (FNW)-beating Rendezvous in July,I was excited to discover that fellow auteur film maker Julien Duvivier had made a movie with FNW star Jean-Pierre Léaud,which led to me getting ready to walk the boulevard.

The plot:

Falling out with his dad over his step-mother not getting on with him at all, Georges 'Jojo' Castagnier moves into a tower block based in the city of Pigalle.Due to having little money,Jojo starts to know everything about the tower block,from who lives in each flat,to the view he can catch at the top of the building.

Living next door to her, Jojo is taken by the sight of night club dancer Jenny Dorr.Being older than him,Dorr treats Jojo in a motherly manner,but stops him from taking any other steps.Brushing Jojo's advances aside,Dorr gets together with washed up boxer Dicky.Despite having another girl called Marietta Benazzi being keen to catch his sight,Jojo gets caught up in his own boxing match against Dicky.

View on the film:

Looking gorgeous in a femme fatale low-cut black top, Magali Noël gives a magnetic performance as Dorr,whose brittle one liners to Jojo delivers with a casual relish,which is joined by Noël giving Dorr a sly self-awareness over how washed up Dicky is. Punching him well above his weight, Pierre Mondy gives a great,worn-down performance as Dicky, as Mondy hits Dicky with a harsh wear and tear on his shoulders,which Mondy reveals is unable to diminish Mondy's belief of still being a Noir heavy.Standing in front of a neon-lit sign, Jean-Pierre Léaud gives an excellent,measured performance as Georges 'Jojo' Castagnier. Running to the girls with giddy delight, Léaud brilliantly blends a youthful passion with a Noir loneliness lit up as Jojo laughs into the shadows of the night.

Running down the boulevard with Jojo,the screenplay by co- writer/(along with René Barjavel) director Julien Duvivier strides onto the streets with a dazzling,off the cuff fury,as sharp near the knuckle dialogue fully displays in a coarsely chopped manner the Noir corridors of self-destruction littering the tower block. Putting him out in the world on his own,the writers superbly stick Jojo into the darkest Film Noir corner,by making all the "adults" round Jojo be more than happy to punch anyone who doubts their ways of life.

Backed by a rich Blues soundtrack from Jean Yatove,director Julien Duvivier grips the on location scenes with an on the street urgency,which weaves in and out of the hustle with rapid-fire camera moves breathlessly keeping up with Jojo's search for help in the Noir world. Spanning the entire staircase of the tower block, Duvivier & cinematographer elegantly thread Film Noir grit with lush style which puts the FNW in its place,thanks to Duvivier unfolding excellent in camera tricks which along with being a sight for the eyes,also dig into the deep Film Noir atmosphere,as Jojo goes to the rooftop and looks down on the sunset boulevard.