Romantic fatalism, the French cinema of lost ideals, is associated with the 1930s, but it held sway well into the 1960s. Seeing Casque d’or, one can see why Becker was a hero for the New Wave directors. With a fluidity that almost defies narrative plotting, Becker unfolds a tale of love doomed by its setting, the Paris demimonde at the turn of the century. A young Simone Signoret is sensual and sassy as the gigolette Marie, who abandons her gangster mec for an honest carpenter, Manda (Serge Reggiani), whom she meets at a dance. Becker calls up the spirit of Auguste Renoir to create a setting (by the river at Joinville) for the lovers’ meeting and for a brief lifetime of happiness in scenes of heart-stopping sensuality. With her “golden helmet” (casque d’or) of hair, Signoret glows; Reggiani’s impassiveness is all the more moving for his ability to fuse with her.