It tells the story of five unemployed workers who win the jackpot in the national lottery but their solidarity then proves fragile. Five unemployed men in Paris are friends. Jeannot, Jacques, and Tintin are bachelors. Charlot though the rest do not know has left his faithless wife Gina, while Mario is an illegal immigrant from Spain who has got engaged to Huguette.
Suddenly their lives are transformed when their syndicate wins the jackpot in the national lottery. After much discussion, which Jeannot tends to lead, they agree to pool the money. Rowing up the river Marne, they see a ruined laundry and agree to convert it themselves into a guinguette , a riverside restaurant and dance hall.
Living on site and working all day, there is much bonding between the five but fissures also appear. Tintin plays the fool while on the roof and falls fatally. Jacques disappears with his share of the money. Mario gets notice of expulsion and hastily marries Huguette before complying. This leaves Jeannot and Charlot, who proceed to fall out over Gina, still legally married to Charlot, who not only wants to get her hands on Charlot's share of the winnings but easily seduces the willing Jeannot.
In the original pessimistic ending, Jeannot's jealousy leads him to shoot Charlot dead, while in the re-shot optimistic ending the two men unite as friends against the woman's wiles. Critics have associated the film with the rise and demise of the Popular Front. Duvivier was certainly not a Leftist. It should be pointed out nonetheless that Duvivier's portrayal of male friendship gradually being eroded by a woman and by desire for that woman was canonical by , so the film does not limit itself to that reading.
If the men in Duvivier's film do not get to fulfil their dream of setting up their guinguette it is because, while economically they can be solidaires βas one, sexually they cannot. On a first level of reading, therefore, it is sex before politics that drives the narrative. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. For the later film, see They Were Five film. Release date. Running time.
