Le Desordre Et La Nuit (1958)

Assigned to a case involving the murder of a drug dealer (Roger Hanin), a Paris police detective (Jean Gabin) finds himself irresistibly attracted to the dead man's young German mistress (Nadja Tiller, DAS MADCHEN ROSEMARIE), who happens to be a junkie. Based on the novel by Jacques Robert and directed by Gilles Grangier, this has the feel of a film noir with its tough police detective, the femme fatale, the B&W cinematography of Louis Page with its smoky nightclubs and wet night streets. But the tracking down of the murderer isn't what drives the film, indeed when it comes it seems a bit of an anti-climax. It's the relationship and budding romance between the aged cop (Gabin was 54 but looks older) and the young girl (Tiller was 28 but looks younger). Gabin's flic is hard to figure out. He seems cold and rather pitiless especially during the film's final reveal when I thought a little sympathy was warranted. Yet he's drawn to the fragile junkie and handles her with kid gloves. With Danielle Darrieux in a supporting role but a juicy one, the black American jazz singer Hazel Scott, Paul Frankeur and Robert Manuel.