Quand Tu Liras Cette Lettre (1953)

The English-language title of this French romantic melodrama is When You Read This Letter. Juliette Greco plays Therese, a nun-in-training who returns to "civilian" life to care for her young sister Denise (Irene Gatter). When Denise is compromised by love-'em-and-leave-'em stud Max (Philippe LeMaire), Therese forces Max at gunpoint to propose marriage to the hapless girl. Fascinated by this extreme behavior, Max falls madly in love with Therese! There's not a believable moment in Quand tu Liras Cetter Lettre, but the actors do their best to breathe life into the pulpish proceedings. Leading lady Juliette Greco would later be given the Hollywood treatment by 20th Century-Fox producer Darryl F. Zanuck, resulting in such efforts as The Roots of Heaven (1958) and Crack in the Mirror (1960). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi