During the Occupation, Cora takes the place of her dead husband at the head of a Resistance network. One evening, she sympathizes with Bernard, a Swiss journalist. However, he is actually an undercover German officer who is close to the man ordered to find her using an Identikit picture...
Acting
Françoise Arnoul's trembling composure masking absolute terror.
Cinematography
Shadowy Parisian interiors that feel like traps closing in.
Direction
Decoin's excruciating patience—every pause drips with dread.
Director
Henri Decoin
Françoise Arnoul
Suzanne Ménessier aka 'Cora'
Bernhard Wicki
Bernard Werner
André Versini
Henry
Roger Hanin
Pierre
Bernard Blier
Debrun
Vanna Urbino
Kurt Meisel
Captain Heinz Muller
Louison Roblin
Bernadette
Harald Wolff
Colonel Richting
Michel Jourdan
Olivier
Grégoire Gromoff
Claude Vernier
German soldier
Mario David
Resistance fighter (uncredited)
Christian Brocard
Cyclist shot down by the Germans (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released during France's tortured reckoning with Occupation memory, when 'resistantialisme' mythologized national heroism—this film dared to show compromise.
Bernhard Wicki, playing the German officer, was Austrian and had actually fled the Nazis—his casting adds layers of unease.
FR
