I believe that there is no pat answer to the question as to who "the Raven" was. Yes, Dr. Vorzet did write some letters, denouncing Germain. But it's also clear that Denise wrote some, probable that Laura wrote some, and more than likely that just about everyone in town probably got around to it sooner or later. (Vorzet himself, perhaps in self-defense, says that with more than 800 letters written in the space of a few days, it's materially impossible that just one soul was at work.) And, indeed, this is clearly the point of Clouzot: that all of us (and French society, in particular, during the Occupation) may be tempted to destroy with calumny those around us whom we envy or find disagreeable and objectionable in any way. Bear in mind, however, that much of what was bandied about in the poison-pen letters was something approximating the truth (intimations of adultery, embezzlement of public funds, the terminal cancer of the patient in bed #13, etc.). So if this film had a disguised political message about the practice of informing on others, it was perhaps ambiguous.
As to the question of who killed Dr. Vorzet, there's no doubt that it was the mother of the terminal cancer patient. But was it necessarily Vorzet who wrote him the letter that prompted the suicide? It could very well have been Marie Corbin, the nurse, who, out of sympathy for her former boyfriend's addiction to opium, tried to increase the supply available to him by eliminating one of the drains on that supply. The fact that anonymous letters continued to circulate after her imprisonment is explained above.
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SSuqui
19 years ago
I saw it again yesterday (when I bought it, of course) and you've just confirmed it. To stretch the point:
Denise wrote some letters to Laura so she could end up with Germain *in an imitation of "The Raven's" handwriting. Laura, who was the originator of those letters, wrote the first letter. But Vorzet, continued them out of mysogyny and love for denouncing anyone who he detests.
Like I said, Germain discovered Vorzet's body, next to a letter he was writing: "The guilty one, Laura, has been punished! THE CURSE IS LIFTED! The Rav..." and Germain learns who the raven was: "So it WAS Vorzet!" and then he sees the old lady (the mother of the son who had cancer) walk out, and if you look carefully, her image turns to a raven. It was the most ominous point.
Like our detective friend says: "When you have eliminated the imposible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." A clue in the end of the film was when Denise and Remy Germain talk, and Denise reveals that Laura was not the raven. Another clue was when "The Raven" sends another letter, saying that Marie Corbin is not "The Raven" (this was days after her arrest). The elimination of Corbin led to the writing test. Then we (the viewer) eliminate Denise; we think Laura did it, but then Denise tells Remy (and us) that Laura is not "The Raven"; at the end, we know who "The Raven" is: Michel Vorzet. It's pretty simple.
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SSuqui
19 years ago
I saw it again yesterday (when I bought it, of course) and you've just confirmed it. To stretch the point:
Denise wrote some letters to Laura so she could end up with Germain *in an imitation of "The Raven's" handwriting. Laura, who was the originator of those letters, wrote the first letter. But Vorzet, continued them out of mysogyny and love for denouncing anyone who he detests.
Like I said, Germain discovered Vorzet's body, next to a letter he was writing: "The guilty one, Laura, has been punished! THE CURSE IS LIFTED! The Rav..." and Germain learns who the raven was: "So it WAS Vorzet!" and then he sees the old lady (the mother of the son who had cancer) walk out, and if you look carefully, her image turns to a raven. It was the most ominous point.
Like our detective friend says: "When you have eliminated the imposible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." A clue in the end of the film was when Denise and Remy Germain talk, and Denise reveals that Laura was not the raven. Another clue was when "The Raven" sends another letter, saying that Marie Corbin is not "The Raven" (this was days after her arrest). The elimination of Corbin led to the writing test. Then we (the viewer) eliminate Denise; we think Laura did it, but then Denise tells Remy (and us) that Laura is not "The Raven"; at the end, we know who "The Raven" is: Michel Vorzet. It's pretty simple.
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katie-35
17 years ago
Thanks to you and all the other opinions on who was The Raven. That time in France was of historic significance in the film. Now, I must buy the DVD. The story of the times and the actual cinematic struggle is an addition to look forward to. I am not good at eliminating the usual suspects so I always figure there will be a surprise ending for me and they usually is. The Europeans have the edge on the U.S.
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chicago85
14 years ago
I watched the commentary on the dvd where a writer said the director recived a black lash from his plot about poison pen letters. Then I remembred the book "Is Paris Burning" about the liberation of Paris in WWII. The liberators found huge sacks of such letters sent to the Gestapo headquarters in Paris.
So many the Germans would not have had time to do anything except read them. These letters were still unopened. They were written by French citizens against their own countrymen for the most venial reasons: to eliminate a romantic rival, to get someone's job or apartment, etc.
This was not a new phenonoma. People were sent to the Bastile in the old days on the basis of "letters of cachet." These letters allowed people with influence to imprison other people in secret without any legal recourse.
A year or so ago I watched an episode of Miss Marple's Mysteries on PBS. It was based on her book "The Moving Finger" about a series of poison pen letters in a small town and how they destroyed people's lives. Maybe Agatha Christie got some inspriration from the actual French crime which took place in 1922.
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valis1949
8 years ago
In the bonus features on the Criterion Collection release of LE CORBEAU it is mentioned that when the film was originally released the Germans condemned the film because they felt it would discourage, 'informing'. Informants were an important tool in the subjugation of the French population and the Nazis most definitely did not want this practice to end.
Free to those that can afford it, very expensive to those that can
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