Julien Duvivier’s final collaboration with Jean Gabin is the gut-wrenching and ultimately tragic story of a Parisian restaurant owner who one day finds a young woman (Danièle Delorme) claiming to be the daughter of his ex-wife on his doorstep. Deadlier Than the Male, whose original French title is a quote from Rimbaud’s “Illuminations,” is, like all the best Duvivier films, beautifully crafted and visualized (Truffaut reckoned that it was his very best), with excellent location shooting in Les Halles. And in the words of Delorme, who passed away last year at the age of 89, the film “immortalized our youth and a certain type of moviemaking.” A Pathé release. Print courtesy of French Cultural Services.