Le corbeau

Plot synopsis:
In a small French town identified as "anywhere," anonymous poison pen letters are sent by somebody signing as Le Corbeau (the Raven). The letters start by accusing doctor Rémy Germain of having an affair with Laura Vorzet, the pretty young wife of the elderly psychiatrist Dr. Vorzet. Germain is also accused of practicing illegal abortions. Letters are then sent to virtually all the population of the town, but keep getting back at the initial victim, Dr. Germain. The situation becomes serious when a patient of the hospital commits suicide with his straight razor after the Raven writes to him that his cancer is terminal.
Laura Vorzet's sister Marie Corbin, a nurse in the infirmary, becomes a suspect and is arrested, but soon new letters arrive. When one letter is dropped in a church from a gallery, it becomes apparent the Raven must be one of the people seated there at the time. They are gathered to re-write the Raven's letters as dictated by Dr. Vorzet, to compare the handwriting. Germain's lover Denise is suspected when she faints during the dictation, only for Laura to be identified by material contained in her blotter. Germain agrees to sign an order committing Laura as insane, just before he is called away to attend Denise who has fallen down stairs. Before he leaves, Laura protests she wrote the Raven's first letters before Dr. Vorzet began dictating them, making him the true Raven. Just as the ambulance takes Laura away, Germain returns and finds Dr. Vorzet dead at his desk, his throat cut by the cancer patient's mother as he was writing the Raven's final triumphant letter.

Tags: revenge, suspenseful, murder, romantic

Review:
Dr. Rémy Germain (Pierre Fresnay), who is having an affair with the social assistant Laura (Micheline Francey), the wife of the psychiatrist Dr. Michel Vorzet (Pierre Larquey) that works with him at the local hospital, is the main victim of The Raven.
"Le Corbeau" is an intriguing film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, with the storyline about a mysterious character entitled The Raven that writes poison pen letters and the power of rumors and the effect in the population of a small town in France.
Alone among the townsfolk, the mother (Sylvie) of the suicide seems resigned and resolute....Clouzot has been called the French Hitchcock, but when Le Corbeau hit the screens in 1943  released by a German production company during the Nazi occupation of France  he wasn't welcomed as warmly as the mischievous but harmless cherub across the Atlantic.
To be sure, Le Corbeau, like most of Clouzot's work (Diabolique, The Wages of Fear) seems to take Shakespeare's misanthropic Timon of Athens as inspiration for its outlook on humanity; it's certainly no tourist brochure for the French provinces.
The facts:it was produced by the German firm "continental" where Clouzot used to work as a scripter "en chef".But people went as far as saying that the movie was shown in German movie theaters under the disagreeable title "a small town like so many  other ones in France" .Balderdash!The movie was never released in Germany at the time.
As Roger Boussinot wrote in "l'encyclopédie du cinéma"(1980),"the bourgeoisie ,be it French or German  was all the same everywhere,and Hitler,whose fortunes were on the wane ,had to treat his own (bourgeoisie) gently.Actually,the film ran into difficulties after the Liberation.It was the ideal scapegoat,and along with so many others ,like Sacha Guitry,Arletty(the female star of "les enfants du paradis"),Ginette Leclerc (the female star of "le corbeau")and other "collaborators" (sic),Clouzot was blacklisted.Why so much acrimony against "le corbeau"?Because it depicted life in French provinces in a way that was far from being idyllic.Anonymous letters are sent by the "raven",and drags the town through the mud.At first sight ,it seems like a simple whodunit:Clouzot 's first effort (l'assassin habite au 21) was a thriller.But there's more to the picture than meets the eye:what was latent in the first movie,we see it in its true colors:Clouzot's contempt for the whole human race,which will increase over the years.No character in "le corbeau " to identify with:the prototype of the film noir.Where is  good?Where is bad?The most famous scene remains that of the light sway :the world is not black and white,what you thought black might be white and vice versa ."Le Corbeau' was released at the wrong time.It was too different from the "Occupation" movies which dealt with "escape" "dream" as works as Carné's "les visiteurs du soir" or Jean Delannoy/Jean Cocteau's "l'éternel retour" testify.It was 1947 before HG Clouzot was allowed to direct again.Four years has passed,and he came back to Belgian writer Steeman (whose "le dernier des six" and "l'assassin habite au 21" he had already adapted),but his venom and his misanthropy hadn't dried up,and more masterpieces were to follow.Otto Preminger directed a remake "the 13th letter" in 1951 which I haven't seen.On the other hand ,there was a French "modern "update by Yves Boisset (Radio Corbeau,1989)which is watchable but which can't be compared to Clouzot's thunderbolt back in 1943..
It is beautiful how the director gets the message through that nobody is entirely good or entirely bad, culminating in a great scene where a primitive lamp is sent swinging back and forth, letting the shadows wander.In this movie an anonymous writer sends letters to different people with wild accusations.
The letters are signed by someone calling themselves Le Corbeau (The Raven), and pretty soon the town starts to implode as suspicion and mistrust runs wild.Famously it was the film that saw Clouzot banned from making films, the then young director receiving flak from all quarters of the Vichy Government - Catholic Church - Left Wingers and others too!
I see all and tell all." So quoth the Raven, the pen name of the mysterious writer of poison pen letters that has plagued a small town in France with suspicion, fear and anxiety.
Someone unknown sends a series of slanderous letters to various people in a small French town, the motive apparently being to drive a local medical doctor out.
Director Henri-Georges Clouzot makes a fine film from a popular novel about real poison pen strife in Tulane France during Vichy France in the early 40's.The first thing an American would notice about the film, there are references, nay, there are actual scenes of passion and sex, clothed, but obvious between Pierre Fresnay of the pencil mustache and Ginette Leclerc of the lacquered lips in a 1943 film.
The idea of an evil person who sends hundreds of "poison pen" letters anonymously in a small town is very intriguing--especially when it eventually results in false accusations, fights and even death.
This film was considered a mystery thriller, with a person writing poison pen letters under the name Le Corbeau (English Translation: The Raven) Most of these poison pen letters were written to all the towns people and told of many dark secrets they were hiding.
This is, for the most part, an interesting little movie that explores how a series of anonymous poison pen letters tear a town apart.
Second, one should bear in mind that the accusations contained in the anonymous letters bore some approximation to the truth: for example, that patient in bed #13 had terminal cancer, that public officials were guilty of embezzling funds (we don't know this for sure, but the defensive attitudes of the accused make it obvious what Clouzot thinks), that any number of individuals were having or were on the verge of having adulterous affairs, and even that Dr. Germain may well be a bit trigger-happy in snuffing out the life of the new-born (anxiety attacks concerning the mother's life which are a product of his past: the death of his wife in childbirth, which led him to give up his practice as a brain surgeon to become a gynecologist).
The film is a massive frontal attack on the craven Vichy mentality, of turning in one's neighbours, and of the 'informant society' which grows up under any occupying force in any country, but which thrived especially well in the hothouse atmosphere of the typical small French town.
In this film, a series of anonymous poison pen letters, written by an extremely well-informed but clearly deranged person, begin to flood the town.
The story of a small French provincial town infected by the mass hysteria of suspicion, spying, and hatred caused by the damning letters revealing the guilty secrets of all citizens and always signed "Le Corbeau" (The Raven) is an absolutely brilliant film.
Henri-Georges Clouzot's Le Corbeau is at once a story loaded with the kind of tension and thrills and dramatic questions that keep an audience guessing like any good mystery, and as well an indictment of the crueler, more paranoid and darker sides to all people.
The film does have that immense level of accusation (one sometimes thinks of the simple French phrase 'J'accuse!' when watching it) that evil can happen not simply in the realm of fascism and dictatorial agendas of mass murder and control, but in seemingly ordinary folk in towns and villages where an unkind word can spark the worst intentions.
We see a funeral taking place- a character from early in the story received a letter from the notorious 'Raven', an anonymous madman who has been spreading gossip about many in town, specifically a doctor Germain, but when this man receives it it drives him to suicide.
It's such a rich sequence in technical-cinematic terms, yet there's also a lot to think about in terms of the nature of the people, of the society at hand- or, as the opening line suggest, any town.Le Corbeau is incisive and questioning of what it means to have not just trust in a town, or a respect for confidence, or really what it means (probably more than anything) of the innocent revealing the guilty where they might be (i.e. the scene where Vorzet and Germain quarter the adults in town to see if their writing styles match the Raven), but also what is compassion or forgiveness or love or any of that which is not really evil.
It sets off a chain reaction, which also includes Germain having to reveal finally his true dark past- one that reminds the audience that what is hidden should stay that way- but that the women in his life, Laura (the elderly Michel's young husband) and Denise, his on-off love-interest- and a break in Germain's character as at first a shrewd bourgeois and later a man of more emotional depth.But there's more than just Germain's fate and reputation at stake in Le Corbeau, and what gets pointed out about how good people can go ugly, or the power of what SHOULD be chaos and hysteria that can be bought into, or that the old phrase "judge not and ye shall not be judged" could never be more pertinent.
A sleepy French town is driven into paranoia and distrust by a nexus of anonymous poison pen letters signed by a nom-de-plume "Le corbeau" which means "the raven" in English, disclosing underhanded goings-on among the townsfolk, and it all starts with the first one accusing Doctor Rémy Germain (Fresnay) of adultery with Laura Vorzet (Francey), the much younger wife of his colleague Doctor Michel Vorzet (Larquey), as well as carrying out illegal abortions.
Capitalizing on an incident of a patient's suicide (after Le corbeau informs him that he has the terminal cancer), the masses turn their backs on Marie, since no one wants their dirty little secrets becoming the laughing stock of the town, Marie becomes the whipping woman even without any substantial proof, there is definitely safety in numbers, a common mistake we onlookers should all rationally abstain from.It goes without saying that the letters do not stop there, and at then the suspects are narrowed down to eighteen individuals sitting in the gallery of the church, among them there is Denise (Leclerc), Germain's gimp neighbor who is so pining for him that le corbeau could be her own creation should be driven by jealousy and malice.
A French village doctor becomes target of poison-pen letters sent to village leaders, accusing him of affairs and practicing abortion.The film caused serious problems for its director after World War II as it had been produced by Continental Films, a German production company established near the beginning of the Occupation of France, and because the film had been perceived by the underground and the Communist press as vilifying the French people.
A small French town is plagued by an anonymous poison-pen writer who calls themselves 'le corbeau'.
The black-and-white photography by Nicolas Hayer is eye-popping throughout; wonderful plays of shadows versus light; beautiful small-town street scenes from the French province, meant to suggest a universal environment; ironically, it helps to this end that the movie was made during the German occupation of France: the environment seems fully sterile; you somehow feel, while watching _Le Corbeau_, that something just "isn't right" in the France as it is depicted here; you can almost feel the director Clouzot treading very carefully so as not to fall foul with his (German) censors.
An Amazon reviewer (Trevor Willsmer) enlightened us with his interpretation of the Raven(s) as the Nazis, or their informers at least, undermining the "natural solidarity" of French towns.All actors are fine, Laura, Denise and her daughter included (the obvious candidates for bad acting, because of their somewhat plain roles).A bleak view of human nature, like the classic "dialogue that shows what the director really thinks" between the doctors about human nature and how everybody is not very clean after all (when Dr. Germain burns with a lamp, proving he was wrong).A refreshingly moving film, requires your undivided attention to follow the plot..
Le Corbeau (1943) *** 1/2 (out of 4) French thriller directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot about a small French village being torn apart by poison pen letters, which is turning everyone against one another.
Henri-George Clouzot's "The Crow" is based on a true story that occurred in Tulle, in 1917, a small town in the middle of France.
Albeit the origin is true, "The Crow" takes place in a small town "like any other", anywhere in France, it couldn't occult the fact that the practice became very popular during the German occupation, when many French people, claiming to be 'good citizens' or only making their duty, denounced Jews, resistant or relatives to the local Police.
"The Crow" was released in 1942, during the occupation, like another French masterpiece "Children of Paradise", but while the context hardly impacted the content of Carné's film, it would be difficult to overlook it for Clouzot, a controversial practice for a controversial time.The film opens with Docteur Remi Germain (Pierre Fresnay) a no-nonsense hardly smiling man, an unusual choice for a lead but another proof that Clouzot is beyond archetypes.
For a film about poison pen letters in an insular French town, that is exactly the sort of direction needed.Very fine performances are drawn from earthy, subtle Pierre Fresnay, whose tense inner feelings slowly crescendo, and darkly charming Ginette Leclerce, a sexy, enigmatic 1940s femme.
Clouzot's second film, "The Raven" was a masterpiece of misanthropy Dissecting the moral collapse of a small French town plagued by a wave of poison pen-letters, Clouzot revealed a sour, embittered vision of human motivation Greed, envy, hypocrisy and hatred are his characters' primary instincts; cruelty and mutual suspicion inform every act of communication Such was the power  and, perhaps, truth  of Clouzot's vision of provincial life that it was interpreted as an act of collaboration with the occupying Nazis; rumors suggested it was shown in Germany as anti-French propaganda Clouzot found himself unemployable for several yearsThe idiocy and falsity of the accusations were proved by his subsequent films.
Someone called "The Raven" is sending poison pen letters to various people in the town.
Deciding to spend the next few months watching French cinema,I felt that it was time to finally open the raven's letter.The plot:Working in a small town,Dr Rémy Germain gets a "poison pen" letter from someone called "The Raven" who claims that they know about Germain having an affair with psychiatrist Dr. Vorzet's wife Laura,and also of performing illegal abortions.
Initially limiting the letters to peoples private lives, The Raven catches the town by surprised horror,when a letter causes a patient of Germain to kill himself.View on the film:Inspired by a real "poison letter" case that took place in Tulle, Limousin (signed "The eye of the tiger") in 1917,the screenplay by co-writer/(along with Louis Chavance) director Henri-Georges Clouzot sends the letters to the gripped with fear Occupied France.Openly having a character state "Evil is a necessary thing.",the writers tear the town up with a ruthlessly allegorical Film Noir,by making the search for The Raven,one where everybody is covered in grave doubts,and the "resistance" to the letter is torn down by mistrust and deceit.
Not only did the left despised this work, but Clouzot was also criticized by the Vichy government of the ultra right.The story takes place in a provincial town where poison pen letters begin appearing all over the place.
Helena Manson seen as Marie Corbin, the hated nurse, does a fine job as well.We recommend any viewer to watch the Criterion DVD to admire Henri-Georges Clouzot masterpiece that speaks volumes about human beings at a trying time of their lives..
And yet the poison-pen letters, always signed by The Raven, continue to arrive.This is a slow, carefully-built suspense movie in which the identity of The Raven isn't important (and for my part the revelation was ultimately disappointing); Henri-Georges Clouzot is more interested in the human drama, in the relationships between the characters, in the way intrigue, rumors, hidden hatreds infect and destroy a community.
The plot, loosely based on a true story that happened two decades earlier, basically revolves around a series of poison-pen letters written by a mysterious person who signs as 'The Raven'.
The letters spread rumors in a small French village, turning the inhabitants against one another, and focus on accusing the local doctor, Remy Germain (Pierre Fresnay), of having an affair and practicing illegal abortions.
Henri-Georges Clouzot's "Le Corbeau" is about a small town under the oppressive, but anonymous, watch of "The Raven," an almost sadistic poison-letter writer who upturns the entire community with his or her block-letter revelations into everyone's secret lives.
THE RAVEN (Henri-Georges Clouzot - France 1943).Henri Georges Clouzot's Le Corbeau is a well-made highly suspenseful puzzle about a mysterious writer of poison-pen letters, known only as Le Corbeau (The Raven), who plagues a French provincial town, exposing the collective suspicion and rancor seething beneath the community's calm surface.
Though not as well known as Henri-Georges Clouzot's later films, WAGES OF FEAR (1953) or LES DIABOLIQUES (1955), it is in many ways a precursor of LES DIABOLIQUES, wherein the provincial French town is replaced by a boarding school as the background and central framework of characters, where everyone is a potential suspect.
To a certain respect this film can be read as a social commentary on small-town values in France, of mocking provincial French society, but it mostly serves as Clouzot's deeply pessimistic view of mankind.
Dr. Remy Germain (Pierre Fresnay), the town's doctor, who forms the central figure in the poison-pen letters scandal, is unsympathetic and hateful and carries some kind of mystery from his past.
Henri-Georges Clouzot's tale of the trouble an unending series of poison pen letters causes in a small village is a solid little thriller.
The tale of letters signed Le Corbeau revealing all the well hidden secrets of a country village has been hailed as a great classic, I'm not sure I would go that far, but it is a good thriller.