First and foremost this is a Masterclass in the Art of Screen Acting by two of the most distinguished practitioners of that Art. Nine out of ten people who are interested in the comments of a film like this one will be fully conversant with the outstanding contribution made to Cinema by Jean Gabin and Simone Signoret but my time posting comments on this board has been punctuated at irregular intervals by PMs from teenagers anxious to learn more about the kind of cinema where popcorn both in a carton and between the ears is not a condition of admission to the auditorium and with that albeit tiny readership in mind I'll perhaps inform them and remind the more mature that Jean Gabin spent 15 years in the French Music Hall before turning to film in 1928 since when he graced such Classics as La Belle Equipe, Pepe Le Moko, Quai des Brumes, Le Jour se leve, La Grande Illusion, Remorques, Touchez-pas au grisbi, La Traversee de Paris, Melodie sous-sol to merely scratch the surface whilst Simone Signoret, although beginning somewhat later (1942) notched up an equally impressive CV; the early success Dedee d'Anvers was directed by her first husband Yves Allegret and she went on to feature in such classic titles as La Ronde, Casque d'Or, Les Diaboliques, Armee des Ombres and the English film Room At The Top, a performance which netted her the very first Best Actress Oscar awarded to a non-American actress. These then were the dual backgrounds and experience that these great actors brought to Le Chat and once again I find myself reporting on a film in the wake of other raves and once again I am both pleased and honored to add my voice to those others. As a Case History of a relationship that has soured to the point of bitterness and virtually no communication this movie hits every target at which it aims. There are long stretches at the beginning where we have only non-verbal acting of the highest order to tell us - and I use that word deliberately rather than 'show' - what is going on, what has GONE on and what WILL be the inevitable conclusion. Monitoring the emptiness, the hollowness, the bitterness of this relationship it's almost impossible - despite subtle reminders - to imagine that these people had once loved each other so much that they had chosen to spend their lives together. Now, inexplicably and unobtrusively that love has disintegrated til Julien (Gabin) loves only his cat, Greffier whilst Signoret still yearns wistfully for the love that has been lost. Most of the other comments here speak of depression, sadness and other negatives yet I did not find it so. True, there is little or nothing uplifting about such a story - especially so since the neighboring buildings are being pulled down around them and in yet another metaphor their house is shown, in earlier times, to form a natural cul-de-sac at right-angles to the others - but Great Acting will always transcend melodramatic emotion and screen Acting doesn't come Greater than this. Brilliant.
Review of Le Chat
