La Marie du Port (1950) Marcel Carné; Jean Gabin, Nicole Courcel

4 stars

Based on a novel by the great George Simenon.Gabin has a girlfriend,a cheerful sort,still attractive,but getting older.He meets her beautiful 18 year old sister.He can get as many women as he wants without doing anything drastic like getting married.He also convinces himself of the silly conventions against an older man uniting with a much younger woman.But this is only a pretext.He is thinking about her every minute.This girl is a lovely dish and he can no longer make excuses to avoid her.So at the end he is making the mistake that we all make,headed for the registry office.I am reminded of a line from'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'.Dana Wynter and Kevin McCarthy are about to be taken over by the seed pods.She asks the older man,who is imploring them to be taken over,if they will still love each other after the transformation.He makes a profound remark about love which young people will not understand but which older people will understand perfectly,'it doesn't last,it never does'