SUBJECTS

Crime -- France -- History -- 19th century -- Drama, Man-woman relationships -- France -- Drama, Murder -- France -- Drama

Casque d’or

BAMPFA Student Committee Pick!

 

featuring

Simone Signoret, Serge Reggiani, Claude Dauphin, Raymond Bussières,

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.

Judy Bloch
FILM DETAILS 
Screenwriter
  • Jacques Becker
  • Jacques Companeez
Cinematographer
  • Robert Lefebvre
Language
  • French
  • with English subtitles
Print Info
  • B&W
  • 35mm
  • 94 mins
Source
  • Janus Films
CINEFILES

CineFiles is an online database of BAMPFA's extensive collection of documentation covering world cinema, past and present.

View Casque d'or documents  

Casque d'or (program note), Cinematheque Ontario/a division of Toronto International Film Festival Group, 2005

Critic's notebook : So different yet so alike (review), Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan, 2003

Casque d'or (review), San Francisco Bay Guardian, Edward E. Crouse, 1999

Casque d'or (distributor materials), Janus Films, 1973

Casque d'or (review), Variety, Gene Moskowitz, 1952

Casque d'or (review), Monthly Film Bulletin, 1952

Casque d'or (program note)

Casque d'or (program note), Pacific Film Archive Calendar

Jacques Becker: two films (article), Sight and Sound, Gilberto Perez Guillermo

Casque d'or (exhibitor manual), Discina International

Displaying 10 of 10 publicly available documents.


View all Casque d'or documentation on CineFiles.