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Le Jour se lève (or Daybreak) is a 1939 French film directed by Marcel Carné and written by Jacques Prévert, based on a story by Jacques Viot. It is considered one of the principal examples of the French film movement known as poetic realism. The film was remade as The Long Night (1947), with Henry Fonda in the Gabin role. In 1952, it was included in the first Sight and Sound top ten greatest films list. The film begins with foundry worker François (Jean Gabin) shooting and killing Valentin (Jules Berry). François then locks himself in his room in a guest house at the top of many... MORE

Le Jour se lève (or Daybreak) is a 1939 French film directed by Marcel Carné and written by Jacques Prévert, based on a story by Jacques Viot. It is considered one of the principal examples of the French film movement known as poetic realism. The film was remade as The Long Night (1947), with Henry Fonda in the Gabin role. In 1952, it was included in the first Sight and Sound top ten greatest films list. The film begins with foundry worker François (Jean Gabin) shooting and killing Valentin (Jules Berry). François then locks himself in his room in a guest house at the top of many flights of stairs. He is soon besieged by the police, who fail in an attempt to shoot themselves into the room, as François barricades himself in. In a series of flashbacks punctuated by glimpses of the present, it is revealed that François had become involved with both the naive young floral shop worker Françoise (Jacqueline Laurent), and the more experienced Clara (Arletty), who until she met François had been the assistant in Valentin's performing dog act. It becomes clear that the manipulative Valentin, an older man, had himself been involved with both women, and he becomes jealous of François (at one LESS