"Every detail of every moment of every shot makes La Nuit du carrefour the only great French detective film, and, indeed, the greatest French film adventure."-Jean-Luc Godard Based on a mystery by Georges Simenon and made with the collaboration of the author, La Nuit du carrefour is a "mystery film" in every sense of the word; very rarely seen, it has a reputation (advanced by Renoir himself) for obscurity of plot, but also for brilliance of style. It has a critical place among the films through which Renoir exerted his strongest influence on the French New Wave of the sixties. Renoir's brother, Pierre Renoir, is perfection itself as the intrepid Detective Maigret, who is not unmoved by the charms of a certain female suspect as he sorts through the alibis and aliases of a motley group of people-an insurance agent, a garage mechanic and his crew, and a Danish couple-after a Jewish diamond merchant is found dead. The action takes place in the dead of night at a lonely crossroads not far from Paris. Atmosphere reigns supreme here, and it is no wonder that the Godard of Alphaville would admire the black-on-black effects that Renoir achieved. Renoir: "The fairylike quality came despite me, and simply because an intersection thirty kilometers outside Paris on a road going north is an enchanted place....In the end, reality is always fairylike." La Nuit du carrefour is presented without subtitles but with a detailed English synopsis that-yes, M. Renoir-makes the film quite understandable after all.