FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Milos Forman - The Firemen's Ball (engl. subt.) 

Milos Forman's film was banned in Czechoslovakia in 1968 by the Communist Party forever and ever. A great honor for an artist! One could see in The Firemen's Ball a hidden attack on the oppressors from the Soviet Union, who actually invaded Prague in 1968 to suppress a popular uprising. The Prague Spring. It tells the amusing story of a retirement party for an elderly fireman. A celebration that in truth is about the madness of bureaucracy and how to successfully cover up a theft. Anyone who loves Czech films knows that just such stories are widely spread. Czech cinema tells of such everyday things that happen to ordinary people. And if you see the story twice, you realize that it is a parable. It shows 24 hours in which the firemen prepare for their ball. Actually, they are planning to pay homage to their former boss, just a little too late - because the 85-year-old is likely to die soon and is not as agile as he was the year before. So they present the man with cancer with a miniature axe in a gift box. Some think that the fireman symbolizes all the traditional values before the Soviets came. But what happens during the Firemen's Festival can be understood as a paradox of Soviet communism. During the festival, a barn begins to burn. The firemen race to the scene, but their car gets stuck in the snow. The barn burns down completely. The poor farmer complains that he is cold. The fire department helps: they move his chair closer to the flames. Before that, one catastrophe follows the next. The prizes of the fire department raffle are stolen and no girl wants to take part in the fire department beauty contest. Especially not the pretty ones! But Milos Forman does not make fun of his characters, only of the system they have to live in. This is what happened to The Firemen's Ball like so many great films of the Czech New Wave of the 60s: the works were banned from the cinemas. This is how exile directors, even Oscar-nominated ones, met all over the world. Only not in the CSSR. If you like to read Milan-Kundera, you can learn more about this phase, in which local directors had to start all over again, full of fear in a foreign country with a foreign language. Today the former risk has become a project "culture". But The Firmen's Ball is still much more than just entertainment! A very funny parable, valid at all times and in all countries. Give it a try and think of a bureaucratic madness. And right after that you will think of The Firemen's Ball! 

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE The way He Looks (engl. subt.) 

The most beautiful thing about this Brazilian film is how little fuss it makes about its subject. And that would be very easy! The Way He Looks is a Coming Of Age story. Well, that's nothing special. It is a gay Coming Of Age story. Also not sooo original. But: One of the boys is blind. Okay, this is a big deal! But not for Leo (Ghilherme Lobo) and Giovana (Tess Amorim), who talk at the beginning about the summer coming to an end. Just like it is here in Berlin. Timidly they tease each other about kissing for the first time this summer. In short, we notice that Daniel Ribeiroa's film is more about the little things in life. Who knows; maybe even a romance between Giovana and Leo would be possible? By the way: Leo is blind. Then Leo takes part in a class project together with the attractive Gabriel. This is very graceful, especially when Gabriel teaches Leo to dance to Belle & Sebastian. Very slowly Leo really blossoms! Such a kind and humble film is The Way He Looks! Somehow the characters in the movie are not completely different from ourselves and that's why we like to spend 90 minutes with them. Almost factually we learn more about how they live. If this is not a progressive approach, what is?

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Alfred Hitchcock - Notorious 

Of all the Hitchcock films, Notorious is the most impressive in terms of visual ideas! Everything here serves only one purpose: to illustrate the secret obsessions of a chubby British gentleman. And with what images! Not just some of the best Hitchcocks, but some of the best ever - and they all lead us to the grandiose finale, where two men find out how wrong they both were. For Swedish Ingrid Bergman, Notorious was one of the two films that would make her immortal. She plays a woman whose tainted reputation (she is "notorious"!) earns her the reputation of working for the US secret service as an informant. In Rio she is supposed to spy on one of the top Nazis. But the man who hires and loves her starts to doubt her, which puts her in grave danger. A man who does not understand the woman he loves - and this misunderstanding is at the center of Notorious. The film was made in 1946, shortly before the cold war began. If Hitchcock had filmed Notorious only a few months later, communists would probably have been the villains. But the script was written by Ben Hecht, who was more interested in following the trail of Nazi criminals in South America. If you want to get to grips with German history, you should try to find the old dubbing. There are no Nazis in the old dubbing, but a ring of smugglers. Bergman plays Alicia Huberman, whose father cooperated with the Nazis. Maybe that's why she is an alcoholic and something like an IT girl? Anyway, she is known to be drunk and sexually open. That's why CIA Agent Devlin (Cary Grant) approaches her. Alicia is supposed to expose a Nazi spy ring around Sebastian (ironically played by the Frenchman Claude Rains) in Rio. Sebastian, a friend of Alicia's father, once loved her and probably still does. Devlin explicitly asks Alicia to share a bed with the Nazi colonel in order to obtain information. He appeals to the good American citizen who is hiding behind the party girl. Alicia agrees to marry Sebastian, because at that moment she is already in love with Devlin. The sexual arrangements are of course only indirectly presented in the dialogues. Hitchcock fulfills the production code - but there is no doubt that a sexual deal is made here. It is interesting that Sebastian seems more likeable to us than Devlin. He may be a Nazi spy, but he sincerely loves Alicia. Devlin, on the other hand, only seems to use her and drives her into the arms of another. Hitchcock is known for his visual sophistication. He made storyboards of every scene. At the same time he cunningly undermines the image of Cary Grant's "good boy". Take a look at the scene where Alicia gets drunk at a party the night after her father is convicted. She drinks to forget. She has her camera watching the event - just like Devlin. Hitchcock installed it behind Cary Grant so that we only see the back of his head. The camera moves left and right while Alicia drinks and flirts. The next morning, Alicia wakes up with an outright hangover. In front of her is a glass with a painkiller (which will soon be combined with a cup of coffee, which in turn contains arsenic). Devrin enters the room, Alicia sees him upside down. Can she trust this man? Can we? Devlin confronts Alicia with a tape recording that proves she is a patriot. Her gaze changes - in the end we see Bergman bathed in brilliant light. It doesn't take words to discern her development. Devlin and Sebastian - the script by Ben Hecht skillfully plays these two men off against each other. Sebastian is smaller, more elegant and more vulnerable. He is dominated by his mother. Devlin is more imposing and sometimes rough. Both men love Alicia, but the wrong man trusts her. Everything culminates in the moment when Devlin leads Alicia out of Sebastian's estate - in front of all the Nazis, but circumstances allow him to do so, so no one can stop him. Devlin leads Alicia down the stairs, out into the open. In an earlier scene we see her descending these stairs, but this time it seems endless. Suspense! Throughout his career, Hitchcock exposed women to great danger in such scenes. Usually they were blond and manipulated by men. The master of manipulation behind it all was Hitchcock himself! The casting of Ingrid Bergman in Notorious was ideal for this role: she embodies the noble, but also the sensual. She sleeps with Sebastian because she loves Devlin - who in turn has a problem with her carrying out his own "mission". So many films end in boring shootings or car chases. Those who are tired of this can enjoy the finale of Notorious on the endless stairs of Sebastian's villa. Alicia and Devlin escape and one of the Nazis asks Sebastian: "Alex, will you come in, please? - We know; he will never come out again. 

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Werner Herzog - Grizzly Man 

If I show weakness, I'm dead"; so the words of Timothy Treadwell, which lie somewhere between true greatness and madness. Treadwell talks about the grizzly bears he lived with in Katmai National Park/Alaska for thirteen summers. " They will take me out, they will decapitate me, they will chop me up into bits and pieces I'm dead." So it happened: They tore his head off, chopped him up into little pieces and he was dead. In better days we experience Treadwell as a guest of the David Letterman Show. Letterman asks him if it is possible that one day the bears will eat him? The audience laughs. Later, the helicopter pilot will report collecting Treadwell's bones. Treadwell would only treat the grizzlies like people in bear costumes. He got what he deserved. The tragedy: The Grizzlies also killed Treadwell's girlfriend. Treadwell was a good-looking mid-forties man who had a hairstyle like a king in the Middle Ages. People found him charming and thirteen summers also the bears... Grizzly Man by Werner Herzog is one of the most unusual nature documentaries ever! Duke Treadwell neither gives Herzog Treadwell the opportunity to justify himself, nor does he sentimentalise the bears. Treadwell tried to get rid of his alcoholism in the wilderness. He saw his task in "protecting" the bears - but did he do them a favor by bringing them together with humans? Treadwell was a strange figure overall, trying to speak with a false Australian accent. He pretended to come from Australia and not New York. Herzog was attracted by the madness of this man - after all madness is THE subject of his work! Treadwell treats bears like humans. He wanted to pretend he lived alone with the bears. Which is not true, because he met Amie Huguenard, his girlfriend, in the wild. We hardly ever see her face on the footage material, but Treadwell's voice screams that Annie should run for her life... Treadwell believed in God and in God alone determining his destiny. Anders Herzog, who comments that there is no harmony in the universe, only chaos and murder. Can we see insights into the history of Gizzly Man? Of course I don't. It's all about finding food. Treadwell and his girlfriend were the only ones ever eaten by bears on the reservation. The "guilty" bear was subsequently shot. You have to imagine: Treadwell, a man who arranged for him and his girlfriend to be slaughtered by Grizzlies. He deserves Werner Herzog's comment! 

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Werner Herzog - The Wild Blue Yonder 

When our colleague and video librarian Thomas Groh was supposed to interview Werner Herzog, he was just as nervous as if he had to meet God. Perhaps even a little more nervous, since Herzog is said to be no easy conversational partner. Incidentally, wrongly, because Herzog proved to be a charming Bavarian of the old school. One of the great "classics", the embodiment of the manic filmmaker, for whom even a human life in the service of art is not an impossible sacrifice. Herzog can make films about everything and make a film out of everything: In a way, The Wild Blue Yonder is a documentary about journeys through space and the anomalies in infinity. But above all, The Wild Blue Yonder is speculation about what the future might look like. But The Wild Blue Yonder is remembered above all because Herzog does without the usual CGI effects and uses footage from NASA instead. So his hard science fiction stuff is underpinned by real pictures! We dive under the ice of the Arctic and this serves the purpose of provoking our imagination so that we follow Duke's SciFi theses. His pictures are not simply intended to illustrate, but to prepare a ground for our thoughts. It's up to us to fill the voids that Herzog deliberately leaves - isn't that much more exciting than a linear way of narrating? Brad Dourif plays an alien who walks the planet Earth. In the near future, at least the earth is barren. A desert landscape. This scenario provides the framework for Herzog to ponder Roswell, wormholes and the pain of an alien.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Sons Of Norway (engl. subt.) 

Theory and practice In the past, the parents decided that we went to the Grips-Theater on Hansaplatz, because there were children's plays being performed, in which the father/boss/landlord was the bad guy. Or we sang children's songs from Chile from the song meeting of the FDJ (you got the records when you visited East Berlin). Or revolutionary children's songs from the excavator driver Willibald (he chases the boss away - together with the workers). In short, my generation grew up in progressive families. A good example of this generation is Magnus (Sven Nordin), the architect and builder of the housing complex in Oslo where Magnus' family lives. Magnus and his lovely wife Lone have two sons. Then a catastrophe occurs; Lone dies in a traffic accident. But that's not the primary concern. It's about dealing with grief - because tormented by grief and rage the punk of the 78s enters the hippie family... Jens Lien's film knows a lot about the Norwegian culture of the late 70s when punk killed the culture of hippies. What does it mean to be a punk anyway? Answer: To be against hippies. And nothing else. That's why the safety pin is stuck in the cheek and the debut of the Sex-Pistols is played. And that daily. Problem only; what does the punk rebel do when parents decide to copy his style? Where is the rebellion then? P.S. Search for the cameo of Johnny Rotten. 

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Kroko 

Sometimes on the way home from school we had to avoid the Residenzstrasse, to avoid being beaten up by side roads and gardens to the S-Bahn. Or arriving home without sneakers. In the Residenzstrasse the danger was simply too high that someone like "Body Murat" was waiting for you. Or Kroko. Her name is Julia and she rules in the backyards of Wedding. Her fingernails are glued on, she wears artificial fur to solarium tan. She looks bored with light blue eyes. It's like the whole world owes her. That's why Kroko's mother reignited long ago, yes, she's afraid of her daughter. On the street Kroko gets respect. Basically, she has already achieved everything she expects from life. No "training shit", but cosmetics, discos and a gang devoted to her. I don't think we, the audience, or anyone else in this gang, like Kroko. That's not possible, because your pride never cracks. Kroko is ice-cold. She also appears in court after she hit a cyclist without a driving licence. Kroko is sentenced to 60 social hours in a handicapped flat share. The judge asks her to apologize to her victim. Not a chance! Kroko just rolls her eyes and looks at her fingernails. Franziska Jünger plays this femme fatale of the backyards as consistently as one has to perform on the street. It's not easy being a croco, because competitors lurking everywhere wanting to overthrow them. Even Kroko's friend actually seeks to avenge the humiliations of this relationship. Will their roll ever crack? Will we see Kroko smile for a moment? Then her first appearance in the handicapped flat-sharing community. The "buckle" against the "retards", as if aliens meet. But who is the alien here? Kroko thinks the director of the home is a "hippie" and refuses to lift a finger... Sylke Enders builds all the excitement of her debut on the question of whether someone succeeds in breaking Kroko's ice. Fortunately, Enders spares us from wanting to "purify" her main character. What's the point? Croc has its charms! Why can't a 17 year old perform like "Lauren Bacall"? The real wonder of Ender's film is that we're dealing with a secret comedy in a miserable cinema. Kroko's encounter with the "Spastis" is so funny in places that I had to blow my nose out loud! Then again my breath stops, when Franziska Jünger shows feelings for a short time. We have to imagine that her croc has not only forgotten this, but has trained off for a lifetime! Luckily Enders had no big budget at his disposal, only about 5000 Euros. She hired kids from Wedding like Franziska Jünger, the doctor's assistant, and shot in the area around the Gesundbrunnen in 2003, when there were no wool caps and lintbeards in Wedding. There were curry sausage stands, corner bars, nail studios and Kroko.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE John Cassavetes - Minnie And Moskowitz 

"They make you believe in romance and love" - Minnie is angry at all the things her films have been trying to fake. She explains to her friend Florence that there would simply be no Clark_Gables in the real world. Minnie hates movies for that! Seymour Moskowitz is a parking attendant with an impressive moustache. He wears shoulder-length hair. His mother explains that Seymour is not Einstein. Not very smart and not handsome either. Just a parking attendant. But then it happens! Love develops between Minnie Moore and Seymour Moskowitz. Seymour even believes he can improve his life and maybe hire in a bigger car park. Minnie had a dream about Seymour. From his face. Seymour is not very eloquent. Basically, he only talks about three things: Money, food and cars. So Minnie tells her mother; cars are very important for Seymour. The mother nods in distress. So it is so that love triumphs here over the usual prevailing conditions! That's what John Cassavetes' comedy is about. And how many of us have never married the person they loved most! Cassavetes film takes the side of unconditional love. Minnie and Moskowitz meant something new to Cassavetes. Not a perfect exercise in style (the form above all!), but a romantic comedy. But as always, he gives the actors room to show their art. Hardly any other director loves actors as much as John Cassavetes (who also made many great appearances as an actor himself). He lets them do it, takes the risk of holding back for once. He trusts them! Gena Rowlands and Seymour Cassel as Minnie and Moskowitz - they are simply wonderful! Nice and touching! 

Slacker Movies 

Was ist eigentlich ein Slacker (Richard Linklater)? In den 90ern definierte man damit solche Typen, die ein Studenten-Leben in Studentenstädten führen. Ergänzung: Das, was Linklater Slackers nannte, heisst bei Kevin Smith Clerks. Er meint damit Angestellte in einem Laden (es könnten auch ein Späti oder eine Tankstelle sein), die den ganzen Tag über zusammen in dem Laden herum hängen und permanent über nichts reden. - What exactly is a Slacker (Richard Linklater)? In the 90s it was used to define those types of people who lead a student life in student cities. Supplement: What Linklater called slackers, Kevin Smith calls clerks. He means employees in a shop (it could also be a late night or a gas station) who hang around in the shop all day long and talk about nothing all the time.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Costa-Gavras - Z (engl. subt.) 

It would be much easier for everyone involved if certain things were not worked through again. If everything remained as it was. Unfortunately, however, more and more facts come to light and suddenly an "accident" becomes a crime... Z is one such case. He deals with the assassination of a Greek opposition leader during the 1960s. Every nation has suffered such a trauma - let us remember the death of a journalist in Malta a few days ago. Z is therefore not about Greece, but about our time today. In general. Z is about the corruption of the political class. A work that will shake you up and fill you with fury! For me, Z is the best political thriller of all time and certainly the most important! The story sounds very simple and is based on facts. Gregorios Lambrakis died in a traffic accident in 1963. Lambrakis was the Greek opposition leader at the time. Then the theory of the accident began to waver and one was forced to investigate. The result: Lambrakis was killed by a right-wing radical organization. High officials of the army and the police were involved. The small henchmen who carried out the murder on behalf of their backers as well as the masterminds were convicted in court. A happy ending? Not at all, because the story of Z does not end here. In 1967 Greece experiences a military coup and as a consequence, the murderers are rehabilitated. Those who had previously solved the murder, however, became "criminals. A classic political thriller? No! The young Costa-Gavras combined a political outcry with a brilliant suspense thriller in Z. His characters change during the film, are no longer perpetrators, but representatives of a system. Ahead, Yves Montand, embodying the murdered victim. Next to her is the widow, played by the great Irene Papas. Then the investigator (Jean-Louis Trintignant), who resists any political pressure to cover up the scandal. By the way, he is not a man of conviction who wants to overthrow the system, but simply a man in search of justice. A truly neutral judge! We should look at the question: Is what helps the state also helpful for its citizens? Z seems to end in triumph. The rotten core of the government is revealed to everyone. The judiciary wins, the government falls. But when the good news is brought to the widow, we see no triumph in her eyes. She looks up at the sea. Full of despair. What's left of her? Nothing, as we'll know later. For many years the right wing controlled Greece. For decades, the population suffered under the murderers. The film Z, the director Costa-Gavras and Irene Papas, they were all banished from Greece. Even the letter Z (which stands for life) was forbidden! During the early 1970s, Z was also attacked in the USA as "hostile to America". Just like today, as the Right maintain a well-ordered network across borders and very well recognize their enemies. Like Costa-Gavras! I would like every Z to borrow on DVD or click on the link. Z is more than a great work - it is an elementary important film!

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE jafar Panahi - Offside (engl. subt.) 

A short introduction for a better understanding, because in Iran the mullahs have banned women from entering the football stadium. Jafar Panahi, counter-revolutionary, draws the material for his comedy from it. The top league in Iran is called Qods, which means "liberated Jerusalem". After all, football is politics! A quarter of a century after Chomeini's revolution in 1979, it became a sport for women to circumvent the ban on football. Camouflaged with baseball caps and wrapped in oversized flags, they are let in: As men. Offside seems like an illegal documentary, we are in the midst of the raging crowd, the hand camera wobbles and tries to capture the action. Behind it hides a cleverly composed feature film with amateur actors and a showdown! The women in the film are shrewd, the men are dolts from the country. With a light hand the Mullah regime is exposed as a farce and an old man in the fan bus finally explains the magic of the arena: You can scream, sing and say whatever you want. However, Panahi's film was not allowed to be shown.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Caramel 

The title Caramel serves as a metaphor. In Lebanon women use caramel for hair removal. A bitter-sweet remedy - just like life itself! Just like the life of these four beautiful women who spend their days together in the beauty salon of Beirut. Si Belle is the name of the shop and the B is hanging crooked from the sign outside. Just like everyday life in Beirut seems to be a bit off the rails. It is the Beirut of Nadine Labaki, which fortunately is not made of pure misery. Of course there are potholes in the streets, but also shops like Si Belle. Caramel is above all a Feel Good comedy about dreams and hopes, but secretly also a utopia: Here, in Beirut, Muslims and Christians and Orthodox and Jews (...) live together. The most diverse religions and ethnic groups. You don't see war in Caramel and that's a good thing! 

FREE ON CINEGEEK:DE Heavy

https://www.cinegeek.de/free-youtube-heavy-1995-rating-80-coming-soon-dvd-filmkunstbar-fitzcarraldo

  "Pete and Dolly's" is a restaurant or bar that is their real home for regular guests. Here not very young, single men fall asleep at the bar and wake up in the hostess's guest bed.  For Dolly (Shelley Winter), her somewhat plump son Victor (Pruitt Taylor Vince) and for Delores (Debbie Harry alias "Blondie") it is definitely their home. They don't have anything better. Here in Berlin "Pete`s And Dollly`s" would be a corner pub. None in Kreuzberg, rather Reinickendorf-Ost. If you spend an evening there and try to guess the sad secret of regulars and waiters, you know what I mean. The terrible secret of such places: There are no secrets at all! Everybody knows everything about each other and has done for years. Dolly sits mainly in her kitchen chair, complaining about her health and quoting her late husband Pete. Vaguely, anyway. We notice that Pete had an affair with Delores years ago. A meaningless affair. Anyway, Delores still works for Dolly. Leo (Joe Grifasi) sits at the bar every night, circling his drink with his forearms protectively. With his gaze he follows Delores. Her or another drink? We know the answer. After all, the dangers of a relationship far outweigh those of another drink! Delores on the other hand knows that there are probably only two men in the world with whom she will never have sex: Leo and Victor, the mama's boy. Victor hears it, but doesn't react, while his eyes flit back and forth like those of an injured animal. He wants a break, but how? This situation has gone on for years. Then Dolly hires Callie (Liv Tyler); a tall, playful student whose sexuality awakens all the sleepers in the bar.  Delores can't help but see Callie as revenge for her affair with Pete. But Callie doesn't notice any of this, as she has her hands full learning how to wait tables. And every move she makes seems clumsy. But at its core, James Mangold's Heavy is about Victor. Pruitt Taylor plays Vince almost without words (Victor whispers more than he speaks). Mostly completely expressionless. Almost always Victor's eyes are following Callie. They are sexual needs, less romantic ones. All this is expressed so bluntly and sadly as in hardly any other movie. They are such lonely people! One time Victor steals a photo of Callie. It's like a doorway to another life he'll probably never live... ...hope is a strange thing. When we think we want to share our life with someone, we never compare our reality to his. We don't weigh them up.  We just compare his reality to our needs. That way, it's a perfect match. Is it foolish that Victor dreams about Callie? But maybe she's lonely too. Who knows, maybe in fifteen years Callie will be like Delores? Or is there a chance that Callie might like Victor too? 

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Jacques Rivette - The Story Of Marie And Julien


 No one is sympathetic in this late Jacques Rivette movie!  Julien (Jerzy Radziwiƚowicz) is a blackmailer and his victim, Madame X (Anne Brochet), cheats on her part by selling fake Chinese antique fabrics. Maybe she also killed her sister. Marie (Emmanuelle Béart) and Adrienne (Bettina Kee) live like ghosts condemned to exist in this corrupt, loveless world. Both have terrible love affairs. Even Julien's cat behaves like a monster. It's even this cat that will eventually reveal Julien's dark secret... Everyone has to pay in this world. The evil from the past takes its toll and the present only serves the purpose of correcting that past. But the monster cat's name "Nevermore" tells us that this is not possible. The past can never be restored. If you like the very early fantastic films from France, you will enjoy Rivette's film. Who can still distinguish between dream and reality in his world? Between fact and fiction? But all thoughts and events in The Story Of Marie And Julien are true. But there is no real world - only a manipulated world. If you want to read a little between the lines, you can search for sources like in every Rivette film. A dash of Hitchcock, a little Cocteau... Who remembers "Vertigo"? All characters in it get the chance to correct their past and fail a second time.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Herni Georges Clouzot - La Verite (engl. subt.)

It's only men who judge Dominique. Dominique is accused of murdering the young conductor Gilbert. There is no doubt; she does not share bourgeois values or morals. Worse still, Dominique doesn't seem to know her at all. That's why the public prosecutor's office describes certain episodes from Dominique's life, which prove one thing above all: This young woman is rampant. Henri-Georges Clouzot won Brigitte Bardot for a role that only she can play. Bardot embodies the nymph, all nature, all impulse. But also a murderer? To this end, we must remember the classic character of the femme fatale. The femme fatale acts consciously and amorally. She lies and mad intrigue. She lives within a society whose rules she deliberately undermines. The nymph, on the other hand, exists outside. How could she break rules that aren't her own? Dominique destroyed a doll at the age of eight because she was never allowed to reach out to her ambitious sister. Later she moved to Paris and surrendered to the nightlife. Instead of working, she met men. Gilbert (Paul Meurisse), the young conductor, believed he had found his great love in Dominique. Nevertheless Dominique let herself be taken by friends on the motorcycle! Jealousy - one of the great themes of Henri-George Clouzot. La Verite is about jealousy that Clouzot had equated with hell in another work. He, the obsessive genius of French cinema, stages a humiliating negotiation to present this young woman for what she is: the victim of a prudish and merciless society. La Verite is timeless, because it exposes how hatred is created: Through advanced "rules" of decency and morality. If you do not submit to them, it is basically the same as leaving the common good. Man is no longer man.