Julien Duvivier renews the glory of French cinema just a bit. His work has an irreproachable composure about it; it bears witness to a sincerity so rare among our directors – always in search of effect – that we allow ourselves to be amazed. Take the story for example, which takes place in the Les Halles neighbourhood. We could have guessed that the picturesque element of the location would have produced a «genre scene» dressed in colorful expressions, cultured things seen live. And we know the dangers of such scenes: they end up drowning the narrative under the pretext of a documentary. Duvivier, instead – and this is no small thing – refuses any digression from the story. […] On the two poles of inspiration we find two different ways of talking about Les Halles: that of André Breton, who continues his search for the Marvelous («the magnificent white, red, and green cubes of the first fruits»), and that of Duvivier, whose realism comes straight from the Naturalism of Zola and of early Huysmans.


André S. Labarthe, in «Cahiers du cinéma», n. 59, mag. 1956