Drawing a rich cross-section across both the Parisian underworld and music hall scenes, Quai des Orfèvres interweaves an engrossing policier and an unlikely Christmas tale, centered around the uncomfortable marriage of the sultry and aptly named torch singer, Jenny L'Amour, and her hapless pianist husband. Starring his own first wife as the seductive chanteuse and Bernard Blier as her sad sack companion, Clouzot describes marriage as a form of lacerating torture driven by furtive jealousy that corrodes matrimonial bonds yet inflames blinding passions. Quai des Orfèvres moves abruptly from the theater to the eponymous police station when the murder of a lecherous impresario threatens the couple's marriage, and possibly their very lives. Louis Jouvet gives a superb turn as the sharp-eyed veteran detective with a deep intuition about the murderous potential of love.