Episode 53: Le jour se leve (1939)
"You're the type women fall in love with...I'm the type that interests them." Poetic realism, which was embraced by a number of European directors in the 1930's and 1940's, is by definition an exercise in anguish; these stories often involved love triangles, backstabbing, and an ending that inevitably would spiral into tragedy. In other words, not your typical Hollywood fare of the time. Marcel Carne's Le jour se leve (1939) is the epitome of poetic realism, although nowadays it's most likely known for being one of the first films (if not the first film) to exercise the flashback method of storytelling. A man has shot a man to death in an apartment stairway. As the facts behind the murder unfold, we learn that the murderer is not the evil man he seems, and the victim may have deserved it. Either way, it's not going to end well. Have a comment or question for the host? Email Sean at 1001moviespodcast@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter via @1001MoviesPC, and look for the podcast's Facebook page.