Thérèse Raquin

Carné and Charles Spaak adapted Émile Zola’s 1867 novel, shifting the Paris murk to contemporary Lyon and swapping the novelist’s “putrid” naturalism for something closer to film noir. Carné’s frequent cinematographer, Roger Hubert, lends a heavy, portentous atmosphere to the bleak streets, while Maurice Thiriet’s score helps tighten the emotional screws. Simone Signoret’s Thérèse has a simmering, watchful intensity, trapped between a snivelling husband and Raf Vallone’s impulsive Italian truck driver, while Roland Lesaffre – Carné’s longtime collaborator and off-screen partner – adds an unsettling charge as the young blackmailer twisting the knife.

35mm print courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive, Australia.