A weird, great, creative, and pure fantasy, with a fresh approach, like you can't find one like this, even now! Marcel L'Herbier's style was like Max Ophuls mixed with Jean Cocteau. --- Hamidreza Rafatnejad

Making plans to view a series of movies that were filmed during the Occupation of France,I started talking to a fellow IMDber about what the best titles from the period were,and I got told about a delightful-sounding overlooked flick,which was part of the Fantastique genre that gained popularity during WWII,which led to me getting ready for a fantastic night.

View on the film:

While the screenplay by co-writer/ ( along with Louis Chavance/Maurice Henry and Henri Jeanson-who was unable to get credited due to being banned by the Vichy Govt for his pacifist writings and his non-cooperation with the Govt ) director Marcel L'Herbier largely stays away from any allegorical/ political aspects,the writers do show Denis dreams to be an escape from the filed-down surroundings that he inhabits.

Spilling the lucid dreams over into reality,the writers build an extraordinary dream-logic world,as Denis attempt to get together with his dream girl are blocked by people from his reality,who straddle the line between figures of reality,and those of a slowly seeping nightmare.

Weaving a dream-logic world across the screen, cinematographer Pierre Montazel & director Marcel L'Herbier keep the specific details of the buildings and locations to a bare minimum,which cast an excellent dreamy atmosphere over the title,as the buildings appear to have come from Denis's imagination.

Along with the pulled- back locations,L'Herbier brilliantly spreads over-lapping images on the movie,which subtly puts the viewer into Denis's mind set,with L'Herbier also giving the first appearance of the mysterious girl a hazy texture,so that the audience joins in with Denis in wanting to look into the girls eyes.

Although he was a bit too old to be a student, (with a "mature" student being something that was not common at the time) Fernand Gravey gives an excellent performance as Denis,thanks to Gravey showing Denis's quietness in "reality" be replaced with an overflowing flamboyancy in the "dream" world,as the sight of his dream girl leads Denis to thinking that he can get complete control over what direction his dream takes.

Entering the title wrapped in a silky white dress,the beautiful Micheline Presle gives a tremendous performance as the "dream" girl/Irène,with Presle striking a fine mix of showing Irène slowly developing a closeness to Denis,whilst always keeping the deep feelings of Irène at "fantasy" distance,in what turns out to be a truly fantastic night.

In 1942 it was all too easy to interpret any movie set in the distant past (Les Visiteurs du soir) or in a dreamscape as here as a metaphor for avoiding the present and/or commenting obliquely on the Occupation but be that as it may both the Carne-Prevert 'Visiteurs' and this entry from Marcel L'Herbier more than stand up well when viewed today. True, Fernand Gravey was never much of an actor and, as has been noted, was too old to pass for a student - 'mature' students were more or less unknown at the time - but provided you didn't ask him to 'act' anything more demanding than bemusement he could get by. It's also a joy to see Micheline Presle in her prime - she continues to act to this day including small roles in films written and directed by her talented daughter, Tonie Marshall - and understand just why she was so prominent among French actresses. Marcel L'Herbier was, of course, himself a veteran who deserves to be much better remembered than he is and here he turns in a charming melange of comedy, drama and fantasy predicated on student Gravey being so worn out from holding down two jobs AND trying to study that he is prone to fall asleep anywhere and dream of a mysterious - but beautiful, natch - lady in white which amateur psychologists would say was trying to tell him something about his real-life unfaithful girlfriend. In a masterstroke L'Herbier allows Gravey to 'enter' his dream - paving the way for Cocteau to put spin on the technique in Orphee - and set up a story within a story with more twists than a bag of pretzels. Bernard Blier - who would also father a future director, Bertrand - is also on hand to add a little class and Saturnin Fabre chews the scenery to everyone's satisfaction. Overall a fine movie and one I'll be adding to my 'wants' list to France and Norway.