Jacques Becker

 Jacques Becker




Casque d'Or (1952)

Touchez pas au Grisbi (1954)



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2. Touchez Pas au Grisbi (1954)


Despite the critical acclaim of "Casque d'Or," Jacques Becker felt he needed to go into a more commercial effort to regain his status and credibility as a filmmaker. With his 1954 film "Touchez Pas au Grisbi," he tapped into the commercial market with an exciting gangster flick. Although this would be the only gangster flick of his career, it would kick off a new desire for this genre in the years to come in France. On top of this, the leading man, Jean Gabin, regained notoriety with the public, despite some who would consider him representative of an older time in French cinema. "Touchez Pas au Grisbi" did exactly what Becker hoped and perhaps even then some.



1. Casque d'Or (1952)


Centering on a prostitute caught in a love triangle during France's Belle Époque, Jacques Becker's 1952 film "Casque d'Or" is often cited by many French filmmakers as being one of the most significant works of the 1950s. Starring the French icon Simone Signoret, the film creates palpable drama through its romantic tensions, along with the inevitable violence that is linked to these tensions. All our protagonist really wants is to find love and appreciation, but any attempts at removing herself from the confines of her determined structure result in nothing but tragedy. Safe to say, sometimes we are held in by forces that want to use and abuse us and to top that off, innocent men are trapped by their circumstances, to which blind justice cares not for context.

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