Directed by Jean Gremillon
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Criterion Eclipse)
A middle aged couple with two young children are forced to move when their garage is taken over by the government for a new airfield. In the city, they struggle to adapt, but eventually carve out a successful business. All of that changes when the husband (Charles Vanel) develops an unhealthy obsession with airplanes. Soon, he is ignoring his business to take joy rides at the airport. His wife (Madeleine Renaud), forced to take a job in another city, at first chides him but later joins him after she is coerced into a flight. They sell everything they own, including their daughter's beloved piano, in a selfish pursuit of fame in an attempt to break a world distance record. In a faux ending viewers will see coming a mile away, she goes missing and is assumed dead, only to reappear and become a local hero. The film's mixed messages are difficult to reconcile: showing both the damage done to families by such reckless pursuits of meaningless records, but also glorifying them.
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