When You Read This Letter (1953)
When You Read This Letter (1953) is a French-Italian drama film directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. After their parents pass away in a car accident, Thérèse Voise, a strong-willed young woman, leaves her convent just before taking her vows to dedicate herself to taking care of her younger sister Denise and running the family stationery shop. Thérèse is fiercely protective of Denise and becomes worried when she begins spending time with Max, an amateur boxer and mechanic who has a reputation for being self-centered and morally questionable. Max’s lifestyle includes multiple relationships with women at nightclubs and he has also set his sights on Irène Faugeret, a wealthy married woman. He manages to secure work as her chauffeur and starts an affair with her.
Max befriends Biquet, a bellhop at the Hôtel Carlton, who acts as his informer on Madame Faugeret’s activities. After a chance encounter at the hotel, Max assaulted Denise, who had feelings for him. This traumatic event led to her attempting to drown herself, but she was thankfully rescued just in time. Following her recovery, Thérèse used this information as leverage to force Max into an engagement with Denise. Thérèse threatened to expose the details of Max’s involvement in the fatal car accident of his wealthy lover Irène Faugeret, for which he had tampered with her car’s steering column by loosening three screws. His plan was for Biquet to use the car and steal Irène’s money before fleeing to Tangiers together.
Date of download: 2015-11-11T17:22:34+00:00
Cast:  Philippe LemaireMax Trivet  Juliette GrécoThérèse Voise  Yvonne SansonIrène Faugeret  Irene GalterDenise Voise |
When You Read This Letter (1953) is a French-Italian drama film directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. After their parents pass away in a car accident, Thérèse Voise, a strong-willed young woman, leaves her convent just before taking her vows to dedicate herself to taking care of her younger sister Denise and running the family stationery shop. Thérèse is fiercely protective of Denise and becomes worried when she begins spending time with Max, an amateur boxer and mechanic who has a reputation for being self-centered and morally questionable. Max’s lifestyle includes multiple relationships with women at nightclubs and he has also set his sights on Irène Faugeret, a wealthy married woman. He manages to secure work as her chauffeur and starts an affair with her.
Max befriends Biquet, a bellhop at the Hôtel Carlton, who acts as his informer on Madame Faugeret’s activities. After a chance encounter at the hotel, Max assaulted Denise, who had feelings for him. This traumatic event led to her attempting to drown herself, but she was thankfully rescued just in time. Following her recovery, Thérèse used this information as leverage to force Max into an engagement with Denise. Thérèse threatened to expose the details of Max’s involvement in the fatal car accident of his wealthy lover Irène Faugeret, for which he had tampered with her car’s steering column by loosening three screws. His plan was for Biquet to use the car and steal Irène’s money before fleeing to Tangiers together.
