Minuit... place Pigalle: A Grimy Slice of 1934 Paris

Is this worth your time?

Honestly, only if you are a completionist for 1930s French cinema or just really, really love the aesthetic of old, smoky street corners. If you need a tight script or characters that make sense, you will probably hate this. It is a bit of a slog, but it has a weird, jagged energy that I sort of respected by the end.

The whole thing feels like it was put together with scraps of paper found in a coat pocket. You get these vignettes of people wandering through Pigalle at midnight, and sometimes the camera just hangs around for way too long on a street lamp or a random passerby. It’s not exactly cinematic mastery, but it feels lived-in. It feels like the director just let the cameras roll until the film ran out.

There is this one scene with a wallet—I won't say who takes it—but the way the guy fumbles with his hat while trying to look nonchalant is just bizarre. It’s not good acting, but it’s real human awkwardness. It made me think of the tone in The Night Bird, where everything feels just a little bit off-center, like the frame was tilted by a centimeter.

The Good and the Weird

• The lighting is pure shadow. Sometimes you can barely see the faces, which might be a blessing.
• The dialogue is incredibly fast. If your French isn't perfect, you’re basically just listening to music.
• Raimu is doing his best to hold it all together, but he looks tired. Like, "I need a vacation" tired.

It’s funny how some movies from this era, like Merely Mary Ann, seem to have their act together so much better. This one feels like a fever dream. The extras in the background of the club scenes seem like they were grabbed off the street ten minutes before shooting. One guy in the corner is just eating something, and he doesn't stop for the entire duration of the scene. It’s distracting! But it’s the kind of detail I love.

I don't think the writers actually knew how to end the story, so they just kind of stopped. The screen goes black, and you’re just left sitting there wondering if you missed the point. You didn't. There wasn't one. 🚬

It’s not a masterpiece. It’s not even a particularly good movie. But it’s a time capsule of a place that doesn't exist anymore, captured by people who clearly didn't have enough budget to polish the edges. I’ll take that over a soulless, big-budget production any day of the week.