 However, the film was disliked by all political parties in postwar France, and there was a strong consensus to treat this movie as a scapegoat for a national feeling of guilt for not putting up enough resistance against Nazi Germany.Clouzot was at first banned for life from directing films in France; his actors, who acted also in other movies, were sentenced to long prison terms.Several important personalities in France, including artist Jean Cocteau and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, went to the defense of "Le Corbeau" and Clouzot himself.