La Meilleure part (1955)
Directed by Yves Allégret

Film Review

One thing that can definitely be said of La Meilleure Part is that it is definitely not the best part of its director's oeuvre.  From the mid-1950s onwards, Yves Allégret rarely if ever lived up to the promise of his early years - shown in such films as Dédée d'Anvers (1948) and Une si jolie petite plage (1949) - and this totally facile drama marks the beginning of his spectacular plunge into mediocrity.  It was only a few years previously that he and his lead actor Gérard Philipe had shone with their respective talents in Les Orgueilleux (1953), a moody drama that is one of Allégret's more accomplished films.  The actor and director's subsequent pairing on La Meilleure Part is far less commendable, with Philipe visibly struggling to bring an iota of credibility to an atrocious script and Allégret failing to adapt his art to a much bigger and grander canvas.

Filmed in lush Eastman Color on dramatic Cinemascope, the film impresses with its breathtaking panoramic shots, but beyond this surface gloss there is very little to the film, just an unconvincing melodrama in which a young man struggles with his conscience and the inhuman vagaries of big business before yielding to the inevitable.  The plot is as trite and forced as it is predictable, but the staid dialogue makes it far worse than it needs to be.  Allégret's direction abounds with an insipidity and complacency never seen in any of his previous films, and the best that can be said about the performances is that they are sufficiently flat and unengaging to send you to sleep faster than a cup of Horlicks.  La Meilleure Part looks as if it was made by team caught in the throes of advanced narcolepsy - drearily mechanical, hopelessly lumbering and at times showing practically no sign of life.

Film Synopsis

For Philippe Perrin, a young and ambitious engineer, the construction of a huge dam in the Alps becomes his life's work and he devotes himself to this, his greatest accomplishment.  Unfortunately, Perrin's dedication to his work often brings him into conflict with his colleague Bailly, who is just as committed to the project but he is far more concerned with the profit margin than with people.  When Perrin's health takes a sudden turn for the worse, his doctor advises him to take a break.  Whilst the engineer is away recuperating, an accident takes place in which five labourers are buried alive.  Blaming himself for the accident, Perrin takes charge of the rescue mission...