Robert Sabatier

Absent-minded yet cultured, Pierre answers his parents demands to wed by ignoring both astronomy and the housemaid, instead falling head-over-heels for rich damsels.

Six people travel by overnight train from Marseilles to Paris. When they arrive, one of them, a young woman, is found dead in a sleeping berth. The police, led by Inspector Grazzi, investigate the other five passengers, suspecting that one among them was responsible. However, as the investigation is stepped up, the others start turning up dead. It's up to the remaining two to solve the case, lest they become the next victims.

The miseries of alcoholism, both for the alcoholic and anyone close to him, are the focus of this routine story about Mathilde, a devoted wife, and her husband Pierre, who is addicted to the bottle. The opening scene is at a New Year's party where Pierre disappears, and Mathilde starts remembering their life together in flashbacks that tell the whole story. Mathilde is ever-suffering, and Pierre is on the whole revolting, so why she hung in there for so long is hopefully made clear in these flashbacks.