Louis Daquin was a unique figure in French cinema, for whom filmmaking and political commitment were one and the same. A member of the Resistance, a staunch communist and union activist heavily involved in defending film industry workers, he considered his craft to be an extension of his convictions. First an assistant to Jean Grémillon, Julien Duvivier and Henri Decoin before wading into directing with Portrait of Innocence (1941), putting his cinema at the service of the blue-collar class and bringing a deeply humanist point of view to the world of labor, collective struggles and individual destinies. From The All Saints’ Day Traveller (1943), adapted from a work by Simenon, to The Opportunists (1960), adapted from Balzac, as well as the masterpiece on the working world, The Mark of the Day (1949), Louis Daquin plunged into the worlds of crime flick, melodrama and social chronicle with a realism grounded in hands-on experience. Long overshadowed by some of his contemporaries, he now distinguishes himself as a figure prime for rediscovery — a French filmmaker for whom commitment, humanism and artistry were synonymous.
Our thanks to Gaumont, FPA Classics, Les Documents cinématographiques, Pathé
À son retour à La Rochelle pour régler la succession de son oncle, un jeune homme se heurte à l’hostilité d’un puissant clan de notables... Une brillante adaptation de Simenon, entre polar et étude de mœurs, critique acerbe des notables de province, avec Jean Desailly.
Sous la Restauration, un ancien officier napoléonien prêt à tout convoite la fortune de son oncle…Une captivante adaptation de La Rabouilleuse de Balzac, entre reconstitution historique et peinture des ambitions humaines.
