Jean, a deserter, arrives in a smoky French port city. There, he meets Nelly, another outcast, another “orphan”. The film follows the couple’s struggles as they live on the margins of French society.

Marcel Carné’s film was a box-office success in 1938. Today, it is considered a classic of French cinema and one of the most famous examples of French Poetic Realism, a style known for its poetic depictions of marginalised lives.

With its atmospheric cinematography, filled with fog and shadows, Port of Shadows is a precursor to film noir.

One of its great strengths is the poetic dialogue, written by Jacques Prévert and performed with subtle realism by Jean Gabin and Michèle Morgan, two big stars of French cinema in the 1930s.

Seeing a film with such a strong poetic quality, both in its dialogue and its visual world, on the big screen is a unique experience.