It is so interesting looking at this movie and the movie below, The Castle. There is simply a huge contrast in them. Casque D'or is a tragic French Movie while the Castle is an Aussie battler movie where the good bloke comes through against all of this odds. The Castle is something designed to appeal to the average Australian who likes the D-Generation, where as Casque D'or is designed to appeal to the more intellectual audiences and those that want a portrayal of a bleak world in which love that exists is brutally extinguished.
Manda, a carpenter who has just been released from gaol arrives in a town that is dominated by a mafia style organisation. He is a tough guy and won't allow himself to be pushed around. As soon as he arrives he catches the eye of Marie who cannot turn away from him. In the first scene where she is dancing with her boyfriend, her face is solidly facing him and does not change even though they are fluidly moving across the dance floor. Even though it is love at first sight, it is a love that is not allowed.
Marie is considered to be little more than a whore. She lives with prostitutes and she works from the crimelord of the town. Her boyfriend is a gutless wimp who dies in a knife fight that the crimelord organises between him and Manda. This fight doesn't brush over for even though the town is ruled by the crime lord, murder is still illegal, except that the crimelord uses it to get his own way, that is Marie.
Manda is a noble character who fights not only for Marie's honour, but also for the honour of his friend who he works for. His friend is set up for the murder but Manda knows the truth and cannot let it be pushed aside. He also knows that it is the crimelord that set everything up. Though people say that love conquers all, human love, especially in this movie, does not. His love for Marie does not mean that everything is going to turn out all right. A murder has been orchestrated and justice must be done, even if it is by the hands of Manda. Beyond this, the law cannot allow a rogue vigilante run around uncontrolled. Even though he guns down the crimelord, he still must pay for his crime, which he does. We know that this movie is going to end tragically, we see that through the movie the love between Manda and Marie is constantly held apart and that it is never going to be a happy ending, which is what I like.
Manda, a carpenter who has just been released from gaol arrives in a town that is dominated by a mafia style organisation. He is a tough guy and won't allow himself to be pushed around. As soon as he arrives he catches the eye of Marie who cannot turn away from him. In the first scene where she is dancing with her boyfriend, her face is solidly facing him and does not change even though they are fluidly moving across the dance floor. Even though it is love at first sight, it is a love that is not allowed.
Marie is considered to be little more than a whore. She lives with prostitutes and she works from the crimelord of the town. Her boyfriend is a gutless wimp who dies in a knife fight that the crimelord organises between him and Manda. This fight doesn't brush over for even though the town is ruled by the crime lord, murder is still illegal, except that the crimelord uses it to get his own way, that is Marie.
Manda is a noble character who fights not only for Marie's honour, but also for the honour of his friend who he works for. His friend is set up for the murder but Manda knows the truth and cannot let it be pushed aside. He also knows that it is the crimelord that set everything up. Though people say that love conquers all, human love, especially in this movie, does not. His love for Marie does not mean that everything is going to turn out all right. A murder has been orchestrated and justice must be done, even if it is by the hands of Manda. Beyond this, the law cannot allow a rogue vigilante run around uncontrolled. Even though he guns down the crimelord, he still must pay for his crime, which he does. We know that this movie is going to end tragically, we see that through the movie the love between Manda and Marie is constantly held apart and that it is never going to be a happy ending, which is what I like.