25 - SIMONE SIGNORET AND SERGE REGGIANI

SIMONE SIGNORET AND SERGE REGGIANI Scene from Jacques Becker’s film “Casque d’or,” 1952. Photograph, vintage silver gelatin print on card stock, credits below the image, stamped and annotated on the back. 23.6 x 24.2 cm including the border. A few tears in the paper and a small stain on the title. Note: In *Casque d’or*, directed by Jacques Becker in 1952, Simone Signoret plays Marie, nicknamed “Casque d’or” because of her dazzling blonde hair, a woman connected to the “Apaches” of the Belle Époque. She falls in love with Georges Manda, a former thug turned carpenter, played by Serge Reggiani. Their desire to escape the violence of that world together is thwarted by Roland’s jealousy and the schemes of gang leader Félix Leca, played by Claude Dauphin. Through his meticulous recreation of early 20th-century Parisian suburbs and the understated nature of his direction, Becker transforms this crime story into a tragic love story. The pairing of Signoret and Reggiani remains one of the most memorable in postwar French cinema.