Who Is Jean Gabin? Meet the Actor Who Became the Face of France
Few actors have represented their entire country the way that Jean Gabin has for France. The actor was known for his authentic portrayals of working-class heroes, complex criminals, and world-weary detectives, roles that each represented a facet of French society during a time when raw and honest depictions resonated far louder than knight-in-shining-armor types. But Gabin didn’t need to play the heroic type on screen, because he was one in real life. After serving as a tank commander in the Free French Forces during WWII, Gabin returned to acting even more symbolic of the French spirit. This week, we’re continuing Noirvember by spotlighting our Jean Gabin collection, including two new additions from the height of the post-war French noir period. To better appreciate these works, let’s get to know the man who was France.
Born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé, Gabin grew up orbiting the entertainment world, and by age 20, he began performing in the Folies Bergère. By 1928, he had launched his screen career with roles in two silent films. By the 1930s, he was a household name. With the films Pépé le Moko (1937), La grande illusion (1937), and Port of Shadows (1938)—which are considered three of his most iconic—Gabin became the face of France’s Poetic Realism movement and established his signature acting style by playing cynical but charming proletariat characters often on the fringes of society. Even when playing unsavory types like killers, thieves, and hardened gangsters, Gabin won the hearts of the nation because, like Poetic Realism, his characters spoke to the fatalism, disillusionment, and anxiety of the interwar period.
In Joseph Harriss’s biography Jean Gabin: The Actor Who Was France, the author describes Gabin’s many characters as representative of the “notoriously complex and contradictory French identity, an often bewildering mix of preening panache and gruff earthy common sense.” No matter what kind of Frenchman you were, chances are you saw a piece of yourself in the actor.
Aside from being the poster boy for France, Gabin is also considered one of the most influential actors in film history whose understated yet rugged depictions of antiheroes helped to define the noir leading man for the likes of Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon, and Humphrey Bogart across the sea. Collaborating with directors like Jean Renoir and Julien Duvivier to craft natural and realistic characters, Gabin also became a prime example of the “actor-auteur,” describing an actor whose style is wholly and uniquely their own.
See Gabin in action on Kino Film Collection and keep scrolling to learn more about the films.
For more Noirvember favorites, check out our visual essay of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s neo-noir, Millennium Mambo.
Razzia sur la chnouf (1955)
Based on a novel by Auguste Le Breton, this noir classic explores the criminal underworld of 1950s Paris. After a spell in the U.S., master criminal Henri Ferré, known as ‘Le Nantais’ (Jean Gabin), is recruited by a major narcotics ring where merchandise has vanished and unreliable dealers must be eliminated. For the latter, Henri is assigned two hitmen (Lino Ventura and Albert Rémy).
Highjack Highway (1955)
Dark roads, a stormy night and Jean Gabin are the key ingredients in this French noir gem. After a night with Alice (Jeanne Moreau), trucker Jean (Gabin) finds a dead body on his way home and is suspected by police while harassed by a gang of crooks. With Alice’s support, he rallies his fellow truckers to fight back and turn the tables in this dark, gripping drama.
Port of Shadows (1938)
A classic of the golden age of French cinema, Marcel Carné starkly portrays an underworld of lonely souls wrestling with their own destinies. Jean (Jean Gabin), a deserter sick of the hand that life's dealt him, arrives at Le Havre. He meets an enticing young woman, but is halted by her suitors. Jean decides to risk it all for her, but with the last ship leaving, can either truly be free?
Speaking of Murder (1957)
From acclaimed crime writer Auguste Le Breton comes this gripping noir thriller starring cinema icon Jean Gabin. Louis Bertain’s (Gabin) garage serves as a front for a gang of thieves. He and his accomplices keep up a civic veneer by day and commit crimes in Paris by night. This status quo is upset when one of the gang members becomes convinced that Louis’ younger brother is a police informer.
Maigret Sets a Trap (1958)
Inspector Maigret tries to trap a killer and discovers why a happily married, wealthy, and talented man should want to bump off women at night. Jean Gabin is perfect as Georges Simenon's secure and steady sleuth, and old-hand Jean Delannoy expertly keeps up the pace and suspense in this enjoyable whodunnit.
Maigret and the St. Fiacre Case (1958)
Maigret is summoned by the Countess to the Château de Saint-Fiacre, where she shows him a letter she has received predicting the day on which she will die. Jean Gabin is perfect as Georges Simenon's secure and steady sleuth.