Banned by the Vichy authorities for its allegorical attack on the decadence and corruption of the ruling classes, Grémillon’s socially conscious drama, written by Jacques Prévert, focuses on good and evil in a small Provence town. Michèle (Robinson), a naïve young woman, travels to meet her dissolute fiancé Roland (Brasseur), a drunken artist, and encounters in his world an assemblage of unsavory characters. Disappointed in the soullessness of this society and disillusioned by Roland, she is drawn to a young engineer whose values eventually inspire her to love. Often compared with Renoir’s Rules of the Game (1939) for its mordant indictment of corruption, this lyrical and courageous commentary on German-occupied France envisioned a return to sanity and freedom. Brilliantly photographed by Louis Page and enhanced by Grémillon’s cunning use of sound, the film has become a classic of French wartime cinema.