Le Signe du lion (The Sign of Leo) is a black and white French drama film directed by Éric Rohmer, which was filmed on location in Paris in the summer of 1959 but not released until May 1962. His first full-length work, it is not however one of his Six Moral Tales. Along with The 400 Blows and À Double Tour by Claude Chabrol, who produced The Sign of Leo, it counts as one of the first films of the French New Wave. The title refers to the Zodiac sign of Leo, under which the protagonist says he was born, and much of the plot revolves around notions of luck and fate. The penniless Pierre believes he has inherited a fortune but, when told it went to a cousin, sinks into indigence and despair. Then he is found by a friend who says the cousin has died and Pierre has really inherited the fortune. The film was not a commercial success and for eight years afterwards Rohmer concentrated on short films and on his work at the influential film magazine Cahiers du cinéma. Plot In early summer in Paris, the would-be composer or architect, American by nationality, Peter Wesselrin, commonly known as Pierre, learns that his rich aunt has died. Expecting a substantial legacy, he borrows a large sum from his closest friend, the journalist Jean-François, and throws a celebratory party for everybody he knows. There, while playing his just-completed violin sonata, he is given notice that he is to be evicted. However, as he explains to his friends, he is always lucky because he is a Leo. A few weeks later, Jean-François tells friends he cannot find Pierre, who has been moving between cheap hotels. Then he hears that the aunt's wealth was left entirely to a cousin but, still unable to contact Pierre, has to take an assignment overseas. By August, all of Pierre's friends have left for their holidays and he is selling his possessions in order to have enough to eat. Evicted from his last hotel, he has to live rough. Hearing that a smuggler is looking for couriers, he walks a long way through the heat, only to find that even the crooks are on vacation. He ruins his trousers by spilling tinned sardines on them, his shoes are disintegrating and, when he steals some food, is caught and beaten. Homeless, hungry, unshaven and dirty,