Wiesenstraße 10 (1959)

Wiesenstraße 10: Directed by Denys de La Patellière. With Jean Gabin, Marie-José Nat, Claude Brasseur, Roger Dumas. While Henri was a POW during the war, his wife passed away and he returned to face the challenges of bringing up three children alone. Henri may get drunk and angry at times but he also has a better side that will not stay buried.

“That u0026#39;s what Truffaut wrote about u0026quot;Rue des Prairiesu0026quot; when it was released.Instant karma:as everything Truffaut and his clique used to slag off was to be dismissed by the u0026quot;trueu0026quot; French cine buffs ,u0026quot;Rue des Prairiesu0026quot; sank without a trace.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI must admit Iu0026#39;m far from being a Denys de la Patellièreu0026#39;s fan. One can save,in his filmography,u0026quot;Un Taxi Pour Tobrouku0026quot; ,an entertaining war movie saved by its actors ,and mainly u0026quot;Retour de Manivelleu0026quot; his successful attempt at a film noir.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut in this film,he was really inspired.Is it the excellent cast featuring an imperial Gabin ,with efficient supporting young newcomers such as Claude Brasseur ,Pierre Brasseuru0026#39;s son,Marie-José Nat and a moving Roger Dumas who almost steals the show from the old star?Is it the witty funny dialog by Audiard at the top of his game?Had Truffault displayed more tolerance,more understanding and more perceptiveness,He would have admitted that his Antoine Doinel was really Fernand Neveuxu0026#39;s close relative .The only difference is that Fernand is a working-class boy whereas Truffautu0026#39;s hero was a middle-class offspring (didnu0026#39;t his mother have diplomas?)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Intellectuals do not like the people u0026quot;Alain Paucard writes in his excellent insightful review in u0026quot;Guide des Films ,tome 2u0026quot;.The book rates u0026quot; Prairiesu0026quot; higher than u0026quot;les 400 coupsu0026quot; and I can find little fault with the opinion expressed.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGabin came back from war in 1942 to find his wife dead and a baby (not his) in his bedroom.A widower,he will raise the toddler with his son and daughter.Fifteen years later,the three children try to u0026quot;make some money and not to fall into the ranks of suburbiau0026quot; .But dad is not prepared to accept it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTHe first one(Pierre Brasseur) ,a cycle champion, trashes his father in the gutter press ,cause he has learned to be good at selling himself.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe second one (Marie-José Nat),who used to work in a shoe shop poses for fashion photographs .She falls for a greybeard who could be her father.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe bastard is a tormented soul.He knows where he comes from ,and although M.Neveux is a a father to him,he has grown into a rebel without a cause.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut the most important thing in u0026quot;Rue des Prairies u0026quot; ,as M.Paucard wrote ,is the class struggle.This subject is hinted at in the best scene of the movie,when Gabin comes to see his daughteru0026#39;s lover.The luxury apartment,where a mass by Bach is heard on the record player ,this posh man whose doctor put to starvation diet (tea and Biscottes)and who can give this blue collar champagne,tea,or whiskey but who has not got any u0026quot;Pernodu0026quot; the par excellence proletarian beverage.Such a scene talks louder than one hour and a half of Godardesque rhetoric.And if it were not enough,the last scene ,in the courtroom of honor u0026quot;where the judge pounds his gavel to show that all are equal and the lawu0026#39;s on the levelu0026quot; shows a bourgeoisie afraid of a populace turning anticlerical and anti-militarist (but he u0026#39;s got the war cross says a more human judge).A justice which is hard on the Poor .Itu0026#39;s revealing that Neveuxu0026#39;s two other children side with THAT justice.”