Sans Lendeman
(
Without Tomorrow
) was Max Ophuls' first directorial endeavor since 1938's
Werther
. Edwige Feuillere stars as a night club hostess with a shady past, whose sole reason for living is her adopted baby. But she is denied even this balm when ex-lover Georges Rigaud comes back into her life. Complicating matters is the presence of slimy blackmailer Georges Lannes, who intends to capitalize on Feuillere's misery. Fatalistic in the extreme,
is given life by the eye-popping camera trickery of Max Ophuls, whose love affair with tracking shots reaches orgasmic dimensions. The unexpectedly moralistic ending may have been added merely to appease American audiences.