“People in love are said to be more alive than others. Is it true?” Despite the clouds of death hanging over much of the film, French superstar Jean Gabin is at the peak of his charm in Marcel Carné’s Le jour se lève, a tale of personal betrayal, regret, and murder released the same year that France declared war on the Third Reich. Holed up in his cramped apartment after murdering a romantic rival, industrial worker François (Gabin) refuses to give himself up to the phalanx of police surrounding the building. As he contemplates taking his own life, François recalls through flashbacks what led him to this point: not surprisingly, his love for a beautiful woman. The woman in question, Françoise (Jacqueline Laurent), loves François but is also drawn to dog trainer and performer Valentin (Jules Berry), whose assistant Clara (Arletty) in turn falls for François. Just like in his collaboration with Carné the previous year, Port of Shadows, Gabin plays a starry-eyed lover, confident but gentle, wise but vulnerable, his first evening with Françoise about as romantic as they come (he departs with her teddy bear). Visually, the film makes excellent use of the squared-off, six-story building that stands like a tower on a quiet block, its interior stairwell providing dramatic camera angles to convey the distance between François and the rest of the world.