Le Tonnerre de Dieu (1965)
Directed by Denys de La Patellière

Film Review

Although scarcely remembered today, when it was released in 1965, Le Tonnerre de Dieu was an amazing success, and one of the most popular films made in France up to that point.  Although the story is pretty anodyne, even by the standards of the 1960s, it has a characteristic French charm and sincerity which even today's audience should find enjoyable.

The most notable thing about this film is that it unites two contrasting legends of French cinema, Jean Gabin and Michèle Mercier.  Gabin plays the surly alcoholic landowner whilst Mercier plays the wily prostitute.  It is a remarkable pairing which works very well.  The friction between the two central characters is one of the film's most important ingredients, and Denys de la Patellière's choice of casting appears impeccable.

In the second half of his career, in distinct contrast to his traditional romantic hero roles before the War, Gabin developed a very strong lugubrious persona which served him well in over a score of films.  Le Tonnerre de Dieu shows Gabin at his most expressive and moody - his outbursts really do appear like a thunderstorm, shattering the tranquillity of the countryside.

For her part, Michèle Mercier is no less memorable as the beautiful yet thoughtful young woman torn between unwanted boyfriends, an abusive host and ultimately true love.   The film was made just after Bernard Borderie's Angélique, marquise des Anges , in which Mercier played the lead role of fate-buffeted romantic figure, Angélique   This was the first in a series of five Angélique films, which, whilst earning Mercier international fame, effectively type-cast her the rest of her acting career.  Films like Le Tonnerre de Dieu and Truffaut's Tirez sur le pianiste therefore reveals a slightly different, more enigmatic, Michèle Mercier to the one we are more familiar with.

Film Synopsis

Léandre Brassac is an ageing veterinary who lives in a large house near to Nantes with his wife Marie, whom he openly despises and frequently abuses.  Léandre resents the fact that his wife has failed to bear him any children, and as a result he has become a violent and moody old man, contemptuous of others and all too willing to drown his sorrows in alcohol.  Whilst he may loathe people, Brassac shows a remarkable tenderness for animals, especially the dogs who have become his closest companions in his declining years. During one of his night-time excursions to Nantes, Brassac runs into a prostitute named Simone.  Concerned by the young woman's plight, he invites her to live with him and his wife. 

At first, Simone has difficulty finding anything to like in her odd benefactor and wonders why he is showing her such kindness.  Does he see her as a possible mistress, or a substitute daughter - to make up for the fact that he has no children of his own?  Simone soon takes to her new life and resolves to do everything she can to patch things up between Brassac and his long suffering wife.  Meanwhile, a neighbouring farmer, Roger, begins to take an interest in her and the two are soon embarking on a clandestine love affair.  When Simone's former pimp shows up unexpectedly, Brassac sends him a way with a flea in his ear.  Under Simone's influence, the old man begins to mellow and, as his alcohol intake declines, his affection for his wife Marie becomes more evident.  But how will Brassac react to the news that Simone has managed to get herself pregnant...?