La nuit est mon royaume (1951)

At the controls of his locomotive, Raymond Pinsard (Jean Gabin) is blinded by a jet of steam that kills his colleague. Despite his pain, he manages to stop the train on his own, averting a catastrophe. His courage is recognized with the award of the Legion of Honor, but he has lost his sight. Although reassured by Dr. Vaugeois (Georges Lannes), who promises to operate on him in eight to twelve months, Raymond does not know that the doctor is hiding the truth from him, preferring to tell only his mother (Cécile Didier): his blindness is incurable. Although supported by his mother, his brother-in-law Julien Latour (Robert Arnoux), and his sister Germaine (Marcelle Arnold), Raymond sinks into discouragement. Believing he will recover, he refuses to go to a rehabilitation center for the blind. Only through a ruse do they get him to agree to go. On the advice of Sister Gabrielle (Suzanne Dehelly), a nun at the center, his mother summons a blind radio repairman, Jean Gaillard (Jacques Dynam), to fix a radio set she has deliberately sabotaged. Gaillard’s optimism and energy are a great comfort to Raymond, who decides to go to the rehabilitation center to work with him in the radio repair shop. At the center, Raymond meets Louise Louveau (Simone Valère), a teacher who has been blind since birth and gives Braille lessons; he falls in love with her. Louise is not indifferent to him, although she is engaged to the center’s bursar, Lionel Moreau (Gérard Oury), to whom she reveals one evening Raymond’s doctor’s pessimistic diagnosis. At the center’s annual celebration, Moreau tells Raymond that he will never regain his sight. Desperate, the former railwayman decides to kill himself by throwing himself in front of a train, but Julien saves him at the last moment. Some time later, Raymond decides to leave the center. Realizing Moreau’s cowardice, Louise decides to break off their engagement. It is only thanks to Sister Gabrielle’s determination and arguments—she has since gone blind—that Raymond decides to return to the center, where he attends Louise’s Braille lessons and gives her a bouquet of flowers.