A melodrama about love and sex, jealousy and murder which Renoir invests with a sense of character and place that give it an unusually blunt and sensual impact. The plot is based on a real crime that occurred during the 20s in Martigues, a small town in the south of France. Jacques Mortier, an old friend of Renoir's and the local police chief, assembled the facts and Renoir wrote the script with art critic Carl Einstein. The results are both stark, gentle and sexy. But Italian Neo-Realism before its time? The debate is on.