IMDb RATING
7.6/10
5.5K
YOUR RATING
Three gangsters and an ex-con carpenter all fall for the same beautiful golden-haired woman in Belle Époque France.Three gangsters and an ex-con carpenter all fall for the same beautiful golden-haired woman in Belle Époque France.Three gangsters and an ex-con carpenter all fall for the same beautiful golden-haired woman in Belle Époque France.
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
5.5K
YOUR RATING
- Director
- Writers
- Jacques Becker(scenario)
- Jacques Companéez(scenario)
- Annette Wademant(scenario collaborator)
- Stars
Top credits
- Director
- Writers
- Jacques Becker(scenario)
- Jacques Companéez(scenario)
- Annette Wademant(scenario collaborator)
- Stars
- Won 1 BAFTA Award
- 2 wins & 2 nominations total
Émile Genevois
- Billyas Billy
- (as Emile Genevois)
- Director
- Writers
- Jacques Becker(scenario) (adaptation and dialogue)
- Jacques Companéez(scenario)
- Annette Wademant(scenario collaborator) (uncredited)
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
- All cast & crew
Storyline
In an open-air dance hall, the members of Leca's gang are relaxing with their ladies. One of them, Marie, aka "Casque d'Or" (Golden Helmet) meets Manda, a carpenter. Her man Roland is the jealous kind, and Leca himself has his eye on her. A story of love, death, friendship, and jealousy during the Belle Epoque. —Yepok
- Taglines
- The Story of a Blonde
- Genres
- Certificate
- Not Rated
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaLiterary critics at the time were outraged by the fact that Jacques Becker chose to emphasize atmospherics at the expense of psychology. Nevertheless, Becker's approach had a profound effect on the young film-makers that would later go on to form the French New Wave, thereby changing French cinema forever.
- Quotes
Old Woman Joinville Bar Patron: Charming! We can't go anywhere without meeting tarts.
- ConnectionsEdited into Apostrophes: Les plaisirs populaires (1989)
- SoundtracksSobre las olas
(uncredited)
Music by Juventino Rosas
[This waltz plays in the scene where Georges Manda and Marie first meet]
Top review
Jacques Becker: cinema as art
Jacques Becker was an artist and a director. His legacy is a trilogy of masterpieces: "Casque d'Or", "Touchez pas au Grisbi", "Le Trou", three luminous instances of cinema as art.
The linear story of "Casque d'Or" has the neatness of a Maupassant's tale. We are transferred into a most glorious epoch for French culture and art: the decline of the 19th century, the age of Impressionism. Marie (Simone Signoret) is a blond beauty, a cheerful "lost woman". She's the girl-friend of a member of a gang of small-time but ruthless criminals. She falls in first-sight-love with George Manda (Serge Reggiani) a former crook, now a honest carpenter. Predictable troubles ensue...
The atmosphere of the epoch is wonderfully recreated, with a black-and-white photography of indescribable beauty. An Impressionist Master behind the camera couldn't have done better. And, in fact, Becker was a favorite "student" of director Jean Renoir, Auguste Renoir's son. Becker's characteristic narrating style is nostalgic, serene, gently ironic. He deliberately avoids over-dark tones in his representation of the underworld, even in the middle of tragic events.
Simone Signoret is a charismatic presence on the screen: outstanding is her use of body-language to draw Marie's character, both a romantic enamoured woman and a cynical harlot. Reggiani is excellent as the laconic, tough Manda: he utters some twenty words along the whole movie, yet we perfectly understand his peculiar honor code, his profound love for Marie, his unselfish devotion to friendship. Splendid is Leca (Claude Dauphin), the boss of the gang, officially a respectable well-off wine-dealer: proficient, cool-headed, extremely cunning and Machiavellian, always ready to betray his own men to pursue his dirty purposes. Indeed, great care is paid to the design of all characters, with superb acting by the whole cast.
Exquisite poetic touches permeate the movie... Marie drags Manda into a church, where a simple wedding (of unknown middle-class people) is taking place. Shortly after, Manda is impatient "Let's go"; and Marie "No, just another minute"... and she contemplates the wedding with a dreaming smile...
"Casque d'Or": a perfect work of art.
The linear story of "Casque d'Or" has the neatness of a Maupassant's tale. We are transferred into a most glorious epoch for French culture and art: the decline of the 19th century, the age of Impressionism. Marie (Simone Signoret) is a blond beauty, a cheerful "lost woman". She's the girl-friend of a member of a gang of small-time but ruthless criminals. She falls in first-sight-love with George Manda (Serge Reggiani) a former crook, now a honest carpenter. Predictable troubles ensue...
The atmosphere of the epoch is wonderfully recreated, with a black-and-white photography of indescribable beauty. An Impressionist Master behind the camera couldn't have done better. And, in fact, Becker was a favorite "student" of director Jean Renoir, Auguste Renoir's son. Becker's characteristic narrating style is nostalgic, serene, gently ironic. He deliberately avoids over-dark tones in his representation of the underworld, even in the middle of tragic events.
Simone Signoret is a charismatic presence on the screen: outstanding is her use of body-language to draw Marie's character, both a romantic enamoured woman and a cynical harlot. Reggiani is excellent as the laconic, tough Manda: he utters some twenty words along the whole movie, yet we perfectly understand his peculiar honor code, his profound love for Marie, his unselfish devotion to friendship. Splendid is Leca (Claude Dauphin), the boss of the gang, officially a respectable well-off wine-dealer: proficient, cool-headed, extremely cunning and Machiavellian, always ready to betray his own men to pursue his dirty purposes. Indeed, great care is paid to the design of all characters, with superb acting by the whole cast.
Exquisite poetic touches permeate the movie... Marie drags Manda into a church, where a simple wedding (of unknown middle-class people) is taking place. Shortly after, Manda is impatient "Let's go"; and Marie "No, just another minute"... and she contemplates the wedding with a dreaming smile...
"Casque d'Or": a perfect work of art.
helpful•456
- pzanardo
- Jan 15, 2001
Details
- Runtime1 hour 34 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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