The Light Across the Street (French title: La Lumière d'en face) is a 1955 French drama film directed by Georges Lacombe.
Georges Marceau (Raymond Pellegrin) is a truck driver dating the beautiful Olivia (Brigitte Bardot). After he gets in a bad accident that kills his friend and leaves him psychologically scarred, Georges is forbidden from driving and has to take a job running a cafe. Olivia convinces him to marry her so she can take care of him, going against the doctor's advice as sex is one of the things Georges cannot engage in while recovering. They refrain from consummating, but this leaves them frustrated and it doesn't help that handsome gas station attendant Pietri (Roger Pigaut) works just across the street from them.
Tropes:
- Can't Have Sex, Ever: The doctors think Georges can't handle any sort of strong activity or emotion in his condition and forbid him from having sex among other things. He and Olivia can't consummate their marriage because of this and grow frustrated with the arrangement.
- Expository Pronoun: Olivia's stepfather wants her to refer to him with the informal pronoun "tu", but she sticks to a cold and formal "vous" since she hates him.
- Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: Georges can't work his preferred job as a truck driver due to his condition, so he runs a cafe in front of a gas station instead. At one point he wistfully sits on a truck's driver seat because he misses it so much. Then when he goes insane at the end, he hears a truck coming down the road, runs out and gets hit by it while trying to reach out for it.
- How We Got Here: The movie opens with an angry Georges aiming his rifle at something in the dark. The just as he shoots, the scene switches to a flashback of him shooting at plates at a fair where he's enjoying himself with Olivia. Late in the movie we come back to the initial scene, which turns out to be Georges trying to kill Olivia and Pietri with his rifle.
- Kill the Lights: While trying to kill Olivia and Pietri, Georges shoots the lamp in the room they're in first, making it dark.
- Kiss Diss: Late in the movie, Olivia rejects Georges trying to kiss her goodnight. He's already paranoid that she's mocking him and cheating on him with Pietri, so he flies into a jealous rage at this.
- Lecherous Stepparent: Olivia's stepfather asks why she won't be "nice" to him while pulling her to him by the waist. This home situation explains why she pressures Georges to marry her despite his condition and the doctor's advice.
- Sexless Marriage: Georges and Olivia are married but forbidden from having sex by the doctors. Their frustration at this slowly erodes their trust in each other.
