Clair de lune (1932) review - A messy, loud French talkie with great pants

Should you watch Clair de lune tonight? Only if you are deeply obsessed with early 1930s French cinema or want to see a very young Claude Dauphin. Fans of fast-paced modern stories will absolutely hate how slow and chatty this is.

The whole thing takes place around a fancy hotel where rich people gossip and make a mess of their love lives. Honestly, the plot is hard to follow because everyone talks at the exact same time.

I kept getting distracted by the audio track. There is this constant background hiss that sounds like someone is frying bacon right next to the actors faces. 🥓

But there is some real charm here if you look past the technical hiccups. The legendary Blanche Montel has this incredibly sweet screen presence that kept me watching even when the script went nowhere.

Some of the physical comedy feels like it was leftover from the silent era. It actually reminded me of the goofy energy in The Simp, especially when characters start slamming doors and hiding in closets.

Also, we need to talk about the wardrobe. Almost every man in this movie has their trousers pulled up all the way to their armpits. It is a very specific fashion choice that makes serious scenes look highly hilarious.

My Random Notes During the Movie

• A dog barks in the background of a romantic scene and you can tell the director just decided to ignore it.
• The painted backdrop of the ocean looks like a school play.
• Georges Térof has a mustache that deserves its own spin-off film.

If you want some real action or slapstick from this era, you are probably better off finding something like Blows and Dynamite. But if you just want a cozy, slightly broken French relic to put on while you fold laundry, this one is pretty harmless.

It is not a masterpiece by any means. But it has a weird, clunky heartbeat that I kind of liked.