by Hal Erickson
synopsis
Director Pierre Billon co-adapted the screenplay of Orage from a novel by Henri Bernstein. Released in the U.S. as Storm, the film stars Raf Vallone as André, a good husband and family man. André, in fact, is too good to suit his mistress Françoise (Françoise Arnoul). Realizing that he'd be better off with his wife, Elena (Elena Varzi), who is about to have a baby, Françoise nobly and respectfully sends André packing. There's more to the story than that, of course, but Françoise and André are the only people in the story truly worth caring about. Pierre Billon slyly depicts the mistress as being far more desirable than the wife, demonstrating that what happens to André could happen to any man in the audience.
