La Verite Sur Bebe Donge (1952)

As his life hangs in the balance in the hospital after being poisoned by his wife (Danielle Darrieux), a man (Jean Gabin) reflects on their marriage and what made a hopelessly romantic girl turn murderess. Based on the novel by Georges Simenon and directed by Henri Decoin. This is a fascinating portrait of a marriage gone sour when two people with different values and ideas get married. Gabin's husband is a philandering lout, often cold and cruel and a user of people. Darrieux's wife is a dreamy romantic whose idea of love borders on obsessiveness to the point that she becomes unappealing, a clinging vine suffocating her husband. While it's hard to dissect a ten year marriage in a two hour film, Decoin uses flashbacks to reveal a slowly festering rot. All the danger signs were there but ignored. The film's bleak finale is a real downer but it's honest. This is a film that deserves to be better known. As a film about marriage, it's right up there with SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE and TWO FOR THE ROAD but to the best of my knowledge, it was never released in the U.S. There's an excellent if brief underscore by Jean Jacques Grunenwald. With Daniel Lecourtois, Claude Genia and Madeleine Lambert.