La Femme que j'ai le plus aimée (1942)
Directed by Robert Vernay

Film Review

An early example of the portmanteau or episodic film that was to become hugely popular with French audiences in the following decade, La Femme que j'ai le plus aimée boasts a distinguished cast but suffers from a lack of imagination on both the writing and directing fronts.  Scripted by Yves Mirande, who had previously shown promise as a director with Café de Paris (1938) and Derrière la façade (1939), the film was directed by Robert Vernay, with little of the flair he would bring to the following year's historical epic Le Comte de Monte Cristo (1943).  Like all portmanteau films, this one consists of several similar stories linked by an overarching theme, in this case that of a love affair that ends in rejection and heartbreak.  For an Occupation era audience the film must have made grim viewing and today it is plodding and dreary, its only redeeming featuring being the abundance of acting talent that somehow holds it together.  Even though most of the performers were past their best, and some were well on their way towards obscurity, the presence of such likeable actors as René Lefèvre, Arletty, Noël-Noël and Jean Tissier brings a welcome lustre to an otherwise charmless and pretty forgettable film.

Film Synopsis

Claude is unhappy at having just broken up with the woman of his life.  Over dinner one evening his five friends try to lift his spirits by relating their own amorous misfortunes.  The surgeon was seduced by a cabaret artiste who was his lodger but didn't pay her rent.  The theatre manager thought that his paramour was the author of the plays she asked him to put on stage; in fact, the plays were written by her husband, whom she wanted to succeed.  The industrialist was in love with a humble secretary, but she let him down.  The lawyer was deeply in love with a female sculptor, who left him for her work.  The painter pretended to be dead after he saw his wife having an affair with his best friend.  But maybe there is still hope for Claude and the woman he loves the most...