Remorques (1941, Jean Grémillon) (Patreon)

51/100

My first Grémillon, inspired by the recent, extremely belated NYC release of Lady Killer and The Strange Mister Victor; maybe I picked the wrong one, though others seem to like it. In terms of dramaturgy, there's very little going on—Jean Gabin's André has one of those annoying movie wives who never stops begging hubby to quit whatever dangerous line of work he's in (here, tugboat captain), falls for another woman whose reckless temperament more closely mirrors his (and who looks like the young Michèle Morgan, which doesn't hurt either). Nothing inherently wrong with that simple scenario, nor with Remorques' early stretch that just observes boisterous celebrations at a crewman's wedding and then chronicles the effort to rescue a ship that resists being towed, because its asshole captain (the other woman's husband; that's how she and André meet) doesn't want to pay the salvage fee. But neither did anything particularly grab me, apart from one remarkable shot that pulls back through what appears to be an intact windowpane, just a few months after Welles had famously performed that same trick (albeit going the other direction) in Citizen Kane. And does it more deftly and powerfully, I'd argue. Part of the problem may be that Carné's Port of Shadows, which likewise stars Gabin and Morgan, is a little more romantic and a lot more atmospheric; my vivid memories of that film (which I revisited only a year or so ago) kept making this one seem comparatively lackluster. Plus all stories about men who can't resist the sea's siren call have kinda been ruined for me by the existence of "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)." There are several distinct styles at play, though, and I'm perfectly willing to believe that Grémillon fully committing to any one of them might have produced something I'd savor. I'll give him another try at some point.