Marcel Carné in a poetic vein (“clef des songes” refers to the astrological interpretation of dreams). A young man, Michel (Gérard Philipe), is sleeping in his prison cell when the heavy gates swing open to reveal an open countryside, blue sky and freedom. Michel arrives at the top of a hill, where he finds a completely white village of which all the inhabitants have lost their memory - all, that is, except the accordian player, who can remember the past only when he is playing his instrument. And so the story continues....
“Michel...recognizes Juliette as a woman he once was fond of, and falling in love with her all over again, arranges to meet her later. Equally amorous, Juliette keeps the date but has no recollection of their having set it and no rememberance of their previous encounter. Michel begs help from the memory merchant, but it is no use; even the Central Bureau of Dreams can do nothing, for this is a place where memory doesn't exist, where no one has (even a recent) past, therefore no ‘life story,' and where, of course, a love story hasn't a chance. This is one of the most artistically realized of Marcel Carné's films and also one of his most misunderstood, perhaps because of the subject (adapted from a play by Georges Neveux who also wrote the dialogue) and its formal, almost cold beauty.” --“Homage à Marcel Carné.”
Juliette was a project begun by Carné during the early years of the Occupation, but which he was forced to abandon when a German film executive threatened to ban it on completion. Carné picked up the project again in 1949, and the film was completed in 1950 - but with some changes in the original.
“In an interview published in l'Ecran Français, August 28, 1950, Carné revealed that when he first conceived the idea of making this film, before Les Visiteurs du Soir, Cocteau was going to do the adaptation and Christian Bérard the décors. ‘Now, I think the aesthetic of this kind of film has developed since 1941. With Jacques Viot, I have tried to avoid indulging in fantasmagoria. We have tried to create unreality with reality. Although the young man's dream takes up most of the film, all the people in his dream will also appear in reality. As for the dénouement, we have had to modify our original conception for the public. It will be a happy ending.'” --Jean Queval, “Marcel Carné”