precursor to Casablanca

Casablanca, or course, took place after the war began, but before, just before, Pearl Harbor. But there's a similar sense of "end of the road" despair, something common to France in the years building up to the war, after the Popular Front failed. Rick's despair is more personal, but his isolationism is symbolic of the popular pre-War feelings in the US.

I want to shake every limb in the Garden of Eden
and make every lover the love of my life

Wow, thank you so much. :) This film has reminded me of sort of a French version of Casablanca, and thought I was the only one. Even the appearance of Michele Morgan in the movie gives off vibes of Berman in Casablanca, to me anyway. It does strike me as though it would be France's quintessential "romantic war-era classic" the way Casablanca is for the U.S. I'm not sure if they entirely see it that way, though. (Plus Europeans love Casablanca too.)