''Women Without Hope'' (French: ''Marchandes d'illusions'') is a 1954 French

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Raoul André Raoul André (24 May 1916 in Rabat (Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has ...

and starring

Gisèle Pascal Gisèle Pascal (17 September 1921 – 2 February 2007) was a French actress and a former lover of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco. She was born Gisèle Marie Madeleine Tallone at Cannes, France. Her first movie role was in 1942's '' L'Arlés ...

Philippe Lemaire Philippe Lemaire (14 March 1927 – 15 March 2004) was a French actor. He appeared in more than 90 films from 1946 to 2004. Lemaire was married three times; Nicole Pinton (1949–1951) (divorced); Juliette Gréco from 1953 to 1956, had one da ...

and

Louise Carletti Louise Carletti (27 February 1922 – 10 March 2002) was a French film actress.Kennedy-Karpat p.171 She was married to the director Raoul André. Selected filmography * '' People Who Travel'' (1938) * '' Girls in Distress'' (1939) * '' The W ...

.Rège p.16 It was shot at the

Billancourt Studios Billancourt Studios was a film studio in Paris which operated between 1922 and 1992. Located in Boulogne-Billancourt, it was one of the leading French studios.Szczepanik & Vonderau p.141 It was founded in the silent era by Henri Diamant-Berger. Dur ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Louis Le Barbenchon Louis Le Barbenchon (1911–1980) was a French production designer, set decorator, and art director. He designed the sets for a number of French film productions. Selected filmography * ''His Uncle from Normandy'' (1939) * '' My Aunt the Dictato ...

. It is also known by the

alternative title An alternative title is a media sales device most prominently used in film distribution. Books and films are commonly released under a different title when they are screened or sold in a different country. This can vary from small change to the ...

''Nights of Shame''.

Synopsis

Two

prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

s are in love with men, a

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and his best friend, who do not know about their backgrounds. When a fellow prostitute is murdered, they remain silent for fear that testifying will reveal their real employment to their boyfriends.

Cast

as Marie-Thérèse Langeac *

as Pierre Larrieu *

as Marcelle *

Raymond Pellegrin Raymond Pellegrin (1 January 1925 – 14 October 2007) was a French actor. Born in Nice, Pellegrin made his screen debut in the 1945 French feature ''Naïs (film), Naïs''. He was also famous in France for dubbing Jean Marais for the voice ...

as René *

Nicole Courcel Nicole Marie Jeanne Andrieu (21 October 1931 – 25 June 2016), better known as Nicole Courcel, was a French actress who achieved popularity through the 1950s and 1960s, though she is mostly unknown outside of France. Born in Saint-Cloud, in ...

as Maria *

René Blancard René Blancard (12 March 1897 – 5 November 1965) was a French film actor. He appeared in 80 films between 1922 and 1965. Selected filmography * '' The Mysteries of Paris'' (1922) – Bras-Rouge * ''Montmartre'' (1925) – Frédéric Char ...

as Le commissaire Denys *

Gina Manès Gina Manès (born Blanche Moulin; 7 April 1893 – 6 September 1989) was a French film actress and a major star of French silent cinema. After an early appearance in a Louis Feuillade film, she had significant roles in films of Germaine Dulac and ...

as Mathilde Grigou *

Lisette Lebon Lisette may refer to: People: *Jean Lisette Aroeste (1932-2020), ''Star Trek'' fan who sold scripts to the program * Lisette de Brinon (1896–1982), the Jewish wife of the pro-Nazi French collaborator, Fernand de Brinon * Lisette Burrows, New Zea ...

as Sophie * Paul Demange as Le marchand de couleurs *

René Havard René Havard (20 December 1923 – 7 December 1987) was a French film actor. He appeared in 80 films between 1946 and 1985. He was born and died in Paris, France. Selected filmography * ''That's Not the Way to Die'' (1946) – L'assistant ...

as Le souteneur *

Jérôme Goulven Jerome (c.347–420) was a priest, confessor, theologian and historian from Dalmatia. Jerome may also refer to: People Given name * Jerome (given name), a masculine name of Greek origin, with a list of people so named * Saint Jerome (disambiguat ...

as L'inspecteur Martial *

Simone Berthier Simone may refer to: People * Simone (given name), a feminine (or Italian masculine) given name of Hebrew origin * Simone (surname), an Italian surname * People known mononymously as Simone include: **Simone Bittencourt de Oliveira (born 1949), Br ...

as Monique * Yette Lucas as La concierge * Gaetan Panella as Mathilde Grigou *

Michel Ardan ''From the Earth to the Moon: A Direct Route in 97 Hours, 20 Minutes'' () is an 1865 novel by Jules Verne. It tells the story of the Baltimore Gun Club, a post-American Civil War society of weapons enthusiasts, and their attempts to build an en ...

as Fernand Cortedani *

Bernard Musson Bernard Musson (1925–2010) was a French actor. Selected filmography * '' The Real Culprit'' (1951) * '' It Happened in Paris'' (1952) * '' Midnight Witness'' (1953) * '' The Slave'' (1953) * '' On Trial'' (1954) * '' Flesh and the Woman'' (195 ...

as Le client endormi *

Yôko Tani was a Japanese-French actress and vedette, who had a career in both Japanese and European cinema during the 1950s and '60s. Early life Tani was born Yōko Itani (猪谷洋子) in Paris in 1928, to Japanese parents Zenichi Itani and Taeko Egi. H ...

as L'Eurasienne

References

Bibliography

* Campbell, Russell. ''Marked Women: Prostitutes and Prostitution in the Cinema''. University of Wisconsin Press, 2006. * Rège, Philippe. ''Encyclopedia of French Film Directors, Volume 1''. Scarecrow Press, 2009.

External links

* 1954 films French drama films 1954 drama films 1950s French-language films Films directed by Raoul André French black-and-white films 1950s French films Films shot at Billancourt Studios Films about prostitution in France {{1950s-France-film-stub