Non coupable

Most people in the town, and all of its circle of important men, see Dr Ancelin as a failure like Charles Bovary: a hopeless, provincial drudge who works twice as hard to achieve half as much. But Ancelin has no Emma at his side (indeed, he terrifies his mistress Madeline, who is also cheating on him). He relies on alcohol and self-pity to get through the day as he sinks ever lower in the esteem of most of his neighbors, and perhaps himself. A fatal accident caused by the inebriated doctor provides the catalyst for the film's plot, in the course of which the good doctor tries to rehabilitate himself, at least in his own eyes, by a series of murders.

The view of life and human nature is about as bleak as it gets. Michel Simon embodies Ancelin's unpredictable violence and loathing, both for himself and just about everyone around him. His style of acting, looser and more uninhibited, contrasts with the classical style of the rest of the cast and makes the point even more forcefully.

Like Henri-Georges Clouzot, Henri Decoin directed films in France during the occupation (though, unlike Clouzot, he was not prohibited from directing after the war). Films like Clouzot's 'The Raven' ('Le corbeau') and Decoin's 'Non coupable' explore the realities of life under occupation decades before France would begin to deal with them publicly. Things that try to stay hidden have a terrible cost.