

Port of Marseille, France, recently liberated from the German yoke. Caught as stowaways aboard a ship, Manon, a young woman who was accused of collaborating with the Nazis, and Robert, a freedom fighter who saved her from reprisals, tell the captain about the many challenges they have had to face in order to survive.
Direction
Clouzot's surgical precision with moral rot.
Cinematography
Shadowy port corridors and blinding desert wastes.
Acting
Cécile Aubry's feral, desperate Manon.

Director
Henri-Georges Clouzot
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Clouzot made this after being blacklisted for 'Le Corbeau' — his comeback is basically a confession about French complicity.
The 1949 Cannes jury invented a special prize just to snub this film politically — it won Best Director anyway.