La tête d’un homme

Julien Duvivier’s meticulously crafted adaptation of a novel by legendary crime writer Georges Simenon stars Harry Baur as the author’s most indelible creation, Inspector Jules Maigret, who here investigates the odd circumstances surrounding the killing of a wealthy American woman in Paris—a mystery that draws him into the seedy underworld of 1930s France. Every bit Baur’s equal is the Russian émigré actor Valéry Inkijinoff, who delivers a diabolically disturbing performance as a reptilian, nihilistic medical student. Working in a high-expressionistic, proto-noir style, Duvivier fills LA TÊTE D’UN HOMME (“A Man’s Head”) with one evocative image after another, constructing a work of sinister beauty and stark psychological intensity.