Pierre et Jean

Dir. André Cayatte, 1943, France, 73min
Starring Renée Saint-Cyr, Noël Roquevert, Jacques Dumesnil

Adapted from de Maupassant’s novella of the same name, a delicate family drama of an unhappy marriage, the arrival of a possible new love, and the confused parentage that tends to result, naturally, from such scenarios. André Cayette (Anatomy of a Marriage) who worked at a steady clip throughout the 1940s and into the late 1970s, continues to offer revelations long underseen in the US. Pierre et Jean has been adapted multiple times for the screen (including Luis Buñuel’s A Woman Without Love), with Cayette’s version being closest in tone and historical distance to de Maupassant’s text.