Alba tragica

Carne's murder romance seems a little dated now, its rigid structure and frail artifice too polite for the hysteria necessary for film noir. Carne's tendency to reduce to types is at its most stilted here, leaving one with little room to breathe. There is still much that is majestic and dreamlike - the extraordinary sets, their imposing facades as repressive to Francois as the human world he can't understand; Carne's elegant way with composition and camera movement, especially when he allows himself to see people, not allegories; the unparalleled acting, emotion from another age, yet yearningly, recognisably human.