Noir, très noir. . . . Lest we forget that film noir has roots, on screen as in language, in the French, this gem offers the quintessential femme fatale, hooking the quintessential unsuspecting guy who quickly becomes suspecting, and dangerous. “Duvivier's darkest study of moral depravity, this is a harrowing drama of a successful restaurateur (Jean Gabin) who takes in and marries a young, angel-faced orphan (Danièle Delorme), only to discover she is the conniving daughter of his vengeful ex-wife. The film marked the definitive screen gentrification of Gabin, now in his fifties and destined to play middle-class patriarchs and gentlemen gangsters. Robert Gys's studio reconstruction of the Halles food market is a masterpiece of production design” (Lenny Borger).