Le destin exécrable de Guillemette Babin (1948)

Director:

Guillaume Radot

Writers:

Yves Brainville (dialogue), Maurice Garçon (novel),

Stars:

Héléna Bossis, Michel Barbey, Germaine Kerjean

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Héléna Bossis	...	Guillemette Babin
Michel Barbey	...	Jean-François Pasquier
Germaine Kerjean	...	Radegonde, la mère de Guillemette
Palmyre Levasseur	...	Dame Pasquier
Édouard Delmont	...	Maître Pierre Pasquier
Francette Vernillat	...	Guillemette enfant
Jean Carmet	...	Étienne
Jean Davy	...	Le procureur Salavert
Renaud Mary	...	Charles Perrin
Jacky Flynt	...	Mathilde
Colette Fleuriot	...	Clotilde
Paul Demange	...	Maître Nicolas
Alfred Baillou	...	Le geôlier
Jacques Dufilho	...	Un moine
Sylvain	...	L'idiot

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

based on novel

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

15 October 1948 (France)

Also Known As:

Maldição das Trevas

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

User Reviews

Vredens dag/Day of wrath

The word "execrable" (which has the same meaning in English) is never used for a title of a movie .Perhaps the director wanted to warn the audience ,to urge them not to follow in his heroine 's steps ;and maybe to clear his name because of the censorship ;which did not prevent the Office Catholique Du Cinema from forbidding their flock the movie.

To be born a witch's daughter did not bod well for your future in the Middle Ages .However much Guillaumette tries to stay on the straight and narrow with a little help from a priest she visits ,what's bred in the bone comes out in the flesh.On the very night of her wedding,the infamous girl leaves the conjugal bed - one should say that her hubby could easily be her grandfather- to attend (and take part in) an execrable sabbath;this long sequence with topless women provoked an angry response from the well-meaning people ;it was rather risqué for the time.The director astutely allowed some doubt to remain about the reality of the event and thus (modestly) predated Roman Polanski's own ceremony in "Rosemary's baby" .

Too bad the director was not really up to scratch cause there was an original subject;too bad highly talented Germaine Kerjean disappeared after ten minutes ....nothing here to match Val Lewton's productions ,just a curiosity lost in the French cinema of the late forties .