''Black Thursday'' (french: Les Guichets du Louvre) is a French film from 1974 directed by
Michel Mitrani Michel Mitrani (1930 - 1996) was a French film director and screenwriter. He was the founder of the Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels in 1987. His 1974 film '' Les Guichets du Louvre'' was entered into the 24th Berlin International F ...
. Based on a semi-autobiographical 1960 novel by Roger Bousinnot, the film portrays the
Vel' d'Hiv Roundup
The Vel' d'Hiv' Roundup ( ; from french: Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv', an abbreviation of ) was a mass arrest of foreign Jewish families by Vichy France, French police and Gendarmerie, gendarmes at the behest of the Nazi Germany, German authorities, tha ...
in 1942, when French police arrested over 13,000 Jewish inhabitants of Paris and held them under inhumane conditions for deportation to Auschwitz, where virtually all were murdered. It was entered into the
24th Berlin International Film Festival
The 24th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 21 June – 2 July 1974. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Canadian film '' The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz'' directed by Ted Kotcheff.
Jury
The following people were announc ...
.
Plot
On 16 July 1942 in Paris, Paul, a young student on the Left Bank, hears that the French authorities are rounding up the Jewish inhabitants of the city for deportation. To make a gesture against the evil of the German occupation and the collaborationist French régime, he goes to a Jewish quarter on the Right Bank determined to save someone. French police are there in force, herding Jewish people out of apartments and hustling them into commandeered buses. They already have the names and addresses, and can easily recognise Jewish people by the compulsory yellow star sewn to their clothes.
Individuals Paul approaches either do not understand the danger they face or mistrust his intentions. One young woman he is talking to, Jeanne, is called urgently into a shop, where the shopkeeper says that her mother and sister have just been taken and cuts the yellow star off her jacket. She agrees to let Paul escort her to the apartment of relations. They however have been ordered to pack their bags and, when the police arrive to take them away, hide Paul and Jeanne.
This leaves Jeanne with nowhere to go, but she is wary of Paul and unsure that going to his room on the Left Bank is a solution. Getting out of the Jewish quarter is difficult in any case, as plainclothes police are checking the identity of everybody in the streets. More than once Paul averts police attention by getting into a clinch with Jeanne, who plays along half-heartedly. Ducking into a café used by prostitutes and their pimps, a plainclothes man gets interested in Jeanne. She is saved by a pimp, who fells the cop and wishes the pair well as they flee.
In the empty courtyard of the Louvre museum, Paul explains his motives to Jeanne and his hopes of a better life they could share. However, halfway across the bridge to the Left Bank, she decides she can go no further with him.
Cast
*
Christian Rist: Paul
*
Christine Pascal
Christine Pascal (29 November 1953 – 30 August 1996) was a French actress, writer and director.
Biography
Born in Lyon, Rhône, Pascal made her film debut at 21 in Michel Mitrani's '' Les Guichets du Louvre'' (1974), and began an association w ...
: Jeanne
*
Judith Magre
Judith Magre (born 20 November 1926) is a French actress, born in Montier-en-Der, Haute-Marne
Haute-Marne (; English: Upper Marne) is a department in the Grand Est region of Northeastern France. Named after the river Marne, its prefecture is ...
: Mme Ash
*
Henri Garcin
Henri Garcin (born Anton Albers; 11 April 1928 – 13 June 2022) was a Belgian film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1956 to 2022.
Selected filmography
* ''Mademoiselle and Her Gang'' (1957)
* '' Mata Hari, Agent H21'' (1964)
* ' ...
:
Ernst Jünger
Ernst Jünger (; 29 March 1895 – 17 February 1998) was a German author, highly decorated soldier, philosopher, and entomologist who became publicly known for his World War I memoir '' Storm of Steel''.
The son of a successful businessman and ...
*
Michel Robin
Michel Robin (13 November 1930 – 18 November 2020) was a French film, stage, and television actor. A Sociétaires of the Comédie-Française, sociétaire of the Comédie-Française since 1996, he also appeared in 120 films from 1966 to 201 ...
: the cousin
*
Michel Auclair
Michel Auclair (born Vladimir Vujović, sr-cyr, Владимир Вујовић; 14 September 1922 – 7 January 1988) was an actor of Serbian and French ancestry, known best for his roles in French cinema.
Auclair was born to a Serbian fathe ...
: M. Edmond
*
Alice Sapritch
Alice Sapritch (29 July 1916 – 24 March 1990) was a French film actress. She appeared in 66 films between 1950 and 1989.
Partial filmography
* ''Le tampon du capiston'' (1950) - La pharmacienne
* ''Le crime du Bouif'' (1952)
* ''If Pari ...
: old woman
*
Albert Michel
Albert Michel (1909–1981) was a French stage, film and television actor.Paietta p.40
Selected filmography
* ''Je chante'' (1938) - Un laitier (uncredited)
* ''Ne bougez plus'' (1941) - Clanpinet
* ''Chèque au porteur'' (1941)
* ''Fièvres'' ( ...
: plumber
*
Françoise Bertin
Françoise Bertin (23 September 1925 – 26 October 2014) was a French actress.
She appeared in over 125 films since 1961. Among these were five films directed by Alain Resnais: ''Last Year at Marienbad'', '' Muriel'', '' The War Is Over'', ''I ...
: The dyer
*
Fanny Robiane
References
External links
*
1970s French-language films
1974 films
1974 drama films
Films directed by Michel Mitrani
French drama films
1970s French films
{{1970s-France-film-stub