Quiet Days in Clichy

Any Chabrol character who washes his oysters down with a pint of beer is probably in directorial disfavour, and indeed the director does seem to find Joey - Henry Miller's alter ego - a bit of a creep. The film opens with Joey shrivelled and impotent, living in desolation. The flashbacks to '30s Paris are a fantasia of florid decor, nudity and uncomplicated pleasure. Left and right clash in the streets but at the fabulous Club Melody the fun goes on. 'I want to stay here forever,' cries Joey, fastening onto a symbolic nipple, even as the image fades to dry, embittered old age. It's hardly profound and the Jules et Jim references are misplaced. But as a subversion of its source material the film is on a par with Kiss Me Deadly.