©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p41

23/10/2015 18:14 par tellurikwaves

  • ©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p41

    ©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p41

    23/10/2015 18:14 par tellurikwaves

Trivia (potins & anecdotes)

Showing all 41 items
The little girl who played "Lotte" never saw the film, having died of the flu some weeks before the film was released.
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Joseph Goebbels made sure that the film's print was one of the first things seized by the Germans when they occupied France. He referred to Jean Renoir as "Cinematic Public Enemy Number 1". For many years it was assumed that the film had been destroyed in an Allied air raid in 1942. However, a German film archivist named Frank Hansel, then a Nazi officer in Paris, had actually smuggled it back to Berlin. Then when the Russians entered Berlin in 1945, the film found its way to an archive in Moscow. When Renoir came to restore his film in the 1960s, he knew nothing of Hansel's acquisition and was working from an old muddy print. Purely by coincidence at the same time, the Russian archive swapped some material with an archive in Toulouse. Included in that exchange was the original negative print. However, because so many prints of the film existed at the time, it would be another 30 years before anyone realised that the version in Toulouse was actually the original negative.
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This is the first film in the prestigious Criterion Collection (spine #1).
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The uniform worn by Jean Gabin was actually owned and worn by Jean Renoir, who served in the air force during WWI.
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The first foreign language film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture (French).
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The movie title "La Grande Illusion" is a reference to the pre-war book "The Great Illusion" by Norman Angell, which argued that war was outmoded, unscientific, and absurd. Though little-known today, it was a tremendous sensation when first published in 1913, and was often cited as evidence that a long European war "could not happen". Renoir aptly picks the title for his own work, knowing that his audience would recognize the reference.
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Frequently cited by Woody Allen as the finest picture ever made.
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This pacifist war film shows no combat at all.
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Most of the scenes involving Erich von Stroheim were improvised on the day of filming. He and Jean Renoir would discuss in German what they would be doing, von Stroheim would write it out in English and then give it to assistant director Jacques Becker and script girl Francoise Giroud to translate into French for the screenplay.
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Viennese-born Erich von Stroheim had spent so many years in America that he spoke hardly any German by the time he made the film.
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President Roosevelt was shown a private screening at the White House during November 1937.
 
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The Volpi Award had to be created specially for the film at the Venice Film Festival as it was inconceivable that it should receive the Mussolini Award, given that the film was banned in Italy.
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Erich von Stroheim had a very large input on the depiction of his character. He designed his clothes and the neck brace that he wore in the film. He even wanted black sheets on his bed but Jean Renoir drew the line at that request.
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The battles in which Elsa's brothers died - Charleroi, Tannenberg and Liege - were all battles from 1914, the first year of the war. The Battle of Liège was the opening battle of the German invasion into Belgium, and the first battle of World War I. The Battle of Charleroi was fought on 21 August 1914 between the French and the Germans. The Battle of Tannenberg was in August 1914 and was fought between the Russians and the Germans.
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Jean Renoir had difficulty securing backing for the film until he told his producers that he had Jean Gabin on board. Gabin at the time was France's biggest box office draw.
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Cited by actor Christopher Plummer as the film that brought him to tears more often than any other in his lifetime.
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Fort Douaumont was the largest fort in the defenses of Verdun. It was taken by the Germans on February 24th 1916 and recaptured by the French on October 24th 1916 as part of the Battle of Verdun (February 21st 1916 to December 18th 1916). The recapture of the fort is estimated to have cost the French army 100,000 casualties. The selection of this battle for the film is significant as German and French historians often use the battle to represent the horrors of the Great War. Estimates of total deaths (French and German) range around the 300,000 mark, with total casualties between 750,000 and 1,000,000. Note also that Elsa's husband was killed at the battle for Verdun.
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Jean Renoir's assistant director on this film, Jacques Becker, has a very brief role early in the film as a temperamental British officer who destroys his pocket watch rather than allow the Germans to confiscate it. Becker would himself later become a great director (e.g., Casque d'or (1952)).
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For the script, Jean Renoir and screenwriter Charles Spaak drew from Jean des Vallieres' book "Kavalier Scharnhost" without acknowledgment. This led to a plagiarist suit in court.
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In France, the First World War was referred to as "La Der des Ders" - the last one of all. The film's title La grande illusion (1937) explicitly points out that such a notion was indeed an illusion.
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The art director, Eugène Lourié, was the one who carved the nativity figures out of potatoes for the Christmas scene towards the film's end.
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Jean Gabin would have his eyes spotlit in close-ups to make them appear brighter.
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The biggest shift in the story came about after Erich von Stroheim was cast. The actor-director-writer had recently returned to Europe in an effort to salvage his fading career. Various stories exist about how he came to be cast and what role he was originally offered, but what is clear is that Von Stroheim suggested he play both the gracious, aristocratic captor who first receives Marechal and Boeldieu as prisoners and the commandant of the fortress prison where they end up. Struggling through language barriers (each spoke different degrees of French, German and English), a collaboration between director and actor grew, combining both roles into one and enriching Von Rauffenstein from a sketchy character in the script into one who played a pivotal part in the film's themes of class differences, bonds stretching across borders, and the death-knell of the old aristocracy.
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Erich von Stroheim was encouraged to write whole segments of his own dialogue. He helped create a relationship with the other aristocratic character, De Boeldieu, making it more complex and full and adding greatly to the exploration of the film's themes. He was also in synch with the director in their intention not to make the character a retread of the stereotypical "Horrible Hun" that Stroheim had played in American war films produced in World War I.
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Erich von Stroheim clashed with Jean Renoir in the early days of shooting, and the director later said the actor "behaved intolerably." They had one argument over whether or not there should be prostitutes in the German quarters, a detail Von Stroheim thought would lend greater authenticity but which Renoir rejected as a childish cliche. The dispute so distressed Renoir he burst into tears, which caused Von Stroheim to do the same. They fell into each other's arms, and Renoir said that rather than quarrel with an artist he so greatly admired, he would give up directing the film altogether. Von Stroheim promised from that point on to follow Renoir's instructions to the letter, and he kept his word. Looking back on the production, the actor said, "I have never found a more sympathetic, understanding and artistic director and friend than Jean Renoir."
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Jean Renoir had no problems at all with Jean Gabin. "There you have a true film actor - with a capital F," he later said. "I've filmed many people in my life, and I have never met such a cinematic power; he's a cinematic force, it's fantastic, it's incredible. It must come from his great honesty. He's certainly the most honest man I've ever met in my life."
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On this and all his films, Jean Renoir worked very collaboratively with everyone, readily accepting suggestions from cast and crew and frequently improvising scenes to achieve a great sense of spontaneity.
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Jean Renoir had to work quickly in order to catch the winter snows before they melted. When they did, plaster was used instead.
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The screenplay had been written with Jean Gabin and Pierre Fresnay firmly in mind for the leading roles.
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Being an actor himself, Jean Renoir also knew how to get the best performances from his cast. When Boeldieu creates a diversion to allow his fellow inmates to escape, Renoir told Erich von Stroheim to shout to him in English, "I beg you, man to man, come back," in a way that would sound like a man pleading with his mistress.
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Before the producers agreed to finance the film, they questioned every expense including a stipulation in the script for the use of genuine silver dinner service. Renoir had to agree to make do with silver plate.
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Jean Renoir had to abandon the idea of filming numerous planned shots of planes, airfields, and aerial combat (in the final film, we simply see characters leaving a room to go off on a flying mission, and later entering a room after being shot down and captured). The producers said they could not acquire the necessary planes but were also relieved to avoid a major expense. Renoir was furious at first but later considered it a fortunate accident, realizing his film worked much better without this footage.
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Because shooting in Nazi Germany was out of the question, exteriors were done in the Alsace, the easternmost region of France, which retains a rather German character (and had been under German rule on and off, most recently from the late 19th century until World War I).
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The prisoners' quarters were actually military barracks that had been constructed by the German Kaiser Wilhelm II, who also built the château that doubled for the final fortress prison.
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Somewhere between early scripting and production, the character of Dolette developed into the wealthy Jewish character Rosenthal, which gave Jean Renoir the opportunity of not only joining race and ethnicity to the examination of class themes but, with Rosenthal written as a middle-class character, of adding nuance to the dichotomy between the working-class Marechal and the aristocratic De Boeldieu. The character was made more complex with the help of producer Albert Pinkovitch, who was Jewish and frequently offered suggestions for building the role into a plum part for Jewish actor Marcel Dalio.
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Erich von Stroheim gave Von Rauffenstein his physical dimensions, creating a backstory in which, between the character's first and second appearances, he has been shot down and now exists in a painful and rigid orthopedic apparatus due to a broken back and constantly wears white gloves to conceal burns. An orthopedist had to be found in Colmar, a city near where they were shooting, to create the device in just a few days.
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Erich von Stroheim's contributions extended to the look of the officer's uniform and the décor of his fortress chambers: the Gothic bed, the solitary geranium in the window that came to figure so prominently in his relationship with Boeldieu. Jean Renoir did not accept all his suggestions. He nixed the idea of covering the chambers in black crepe. But by and large, theirs was a very productive collaboration that gave new shape and meaning to the film.
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The working relationship between Erich von Stroheim and the crew was not always smooth. He quarrelled furiously with technical adviser Carl Koch over the uniform worn by the army nurse. Fuelled by too much wine, the argument escalated into vicious insults and the throwing of wine glasses before the two men were calmed.
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©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p40

23/10/2015 18:03 par tellurikwaves

  • ©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p40

    ©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p40

    23/10/2015 18:03 par tellurikwaves

©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p39

23/10/2015 18:00 par tellurikwaves

  • ©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p39

    ©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p39

    23/10/2015 18:00 par tellurikwaves

External Reviews

Showing all 117 external reviews

©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p38

23/10/2015 17:27 par tellurikwaves

  • ©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p38

    ©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p38

    23/10/2015 17:27 par tellurikwaves

 

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A Humanist Classic

10/10
Author: Steven Rubio from Berkeley, California
31 January 2002

Grand Illusion is a movie about class that doesn't hate anyone. How often does that happen? Yes, there are namby-pamby movies that "show all sides" and bore everyone with their non-existent point-of-view, but that's not what I mean. And, of course, there are plenty of movies about class that reveal their biases from the start; I'm rather fond of Eat the Rich movies, myself. But Grand Illusion is about class without dismissing any of its characters. The aristocrats whose world is disappearing are presented as tragic figures, stuck in a code of life that is rapidly becoming meaningless. Both aristocrats know their time is past; the French one accepts this as probably a good thing, the German one doesn't (and blames the French one's sentiments on the French Revolution), but they both know their way of life is soon to be forgotten. And it would be easy for Renoir, when he made the film in the mid-30s a French communist with proletarian sympathies, to demonize these two. But he doesn't; he allows them their humanity, which is the most characteristic feature of Renoir movies in any event (he is the great humanist of movie history).

Nor does he show the collapse of the old way as an unfortunate preface to chaos. The bourgeois characters are good people. The world might be safe in their hands, as safe as in any other hands at least (except for the propensity among nations for war). All of the middle and lower-class characters in the movie are presented as people, not stereotypes. But Renoir doesn't accomplish this by collapsing all class boundaries into some homogenous universalism. These characters remain trapped within their class, and their class is clear to the viewer. The movie is not about the absence of class but about the crushing ironies of the very real existence of class in the lives of the characters. To show all classes without condescension, while retaining a particular point of view (that while people are good, it's best that the aristocratic world is in decline), is pretty amazing.

In Grand Illusion, the nominal hero is working/middle-class, but the upper class isn't evil and the lower class isn't romanticized or dismissed. And it's all accomplished in such a seamless way that many, if not most, first-time viewers might easily think it was a fine movie but something less than great. It sneaks up on you, and more than just about any film you can name, rewards multiple viewings.

*

How language separates us
10/10
Author: Henry Willis from Los Angeles
27 August 1999

What makes Grand Illusion a great movie, and the reason that some of us keep returning to it, is that it can't be reduced to a single simple proposition, the way that recent war movies like Platoon ("war bad," to quote Tarantino's synopsis) or Saving Private Ryan ("war senseless") can. It's easy to be sentimental about war, even while deploring it, by focusing on the horror of it or by making heroes out of those who are forced to fight. Renoir deals instead with the far more complex mesh of differences and alliances that separate and divide our characters. And while his main characters all have a clear class/national/religious identity, he makes much more out of them than just sociological categories.

But trying to explain why Grand Illusion is such a great movie by charting all the conflicting bonds of nationality, class, religion, etc. doesn't explain why the movie is so powerful. To me it is in those scenes in which language either separates our characters (as when Marechal tries and fails to tell the British prisoners about the tunnel or asks why de Boeldieu uses "vous") or unites them (as when von Rauffenstein and de Boeldieu speak in English or the English officer (in drag) sings the Marseillaise or when Marechal finally learns a little German). In these cases, Renoir uses language-without hitting us over the head to make the point-to illustrate the conflict between his ideal of sympathy between humans and the differences of class, nationality and religion.

Now I know that this sounds just as dry and academic as other attempts to explain Grand Illusion. Maybe it is; the movie really does not need to be explained to be enjoyed. But these are the scenes that, for whatever reason, have always made the greatest impression on me.

*

Classic film on the death of ancient regimes
Author: Eric Stewart (epstewart@home.com) from Catonsville, MD
21 March 2000

In the old European order, pre-WWI, one nation's aristocracy made war on another's not out of love for king and country or hatred for the enemy, but out of a sense of honor and duty. War was what they did, these aristocrats of l'ancien regime. Their castles in the air, their noble worldview, their time-honored way--all would crumble, as they very well knew, if the line between the rabble and themselves were allowed to continue to blur. The masses had new and different loyalties.

"La Grande Illusion" in 1914 was the hope that that old order could be preserved in the face of surging democracy and noveau-riche power. Jean Renoir's film presents us with an irony: the martial elites of France and Germany needed the war to vouchsafe their very identities, and yet that conflict would prove their undoing. Whatever side won, the hoi polloi would gain the upper hand.

Restored from its original camera negative, the 1937 French film now on DVD sparkles like new. The restoration lets us see that nothing is dated about this work of genius, even if its POW-camp situations today seem stock and its characters stereotypes of nationality and class. The fine acting, the deft pacing, and the fluid camerawork make for a film that could have been produced last year. The whispered subtext, the nuanced conflicts, and the ironic complexity make for a film that is timeless.

The subtext is the eternal tension between "in the air" and "on the ground," "on high" and "here below," "from a distance" and "up close and personal." From a distance, war is no more rancorous than a chess game, with national boundaries as artificial as the squares on a chessboard. Up close and personal, war separates humans from their lives and aspirations, lovers from their beloveds.

The old elites loved nothing but their class and its accoutrements. It was peasant stock and noveau riche who belted out national anthems and honored the borders which in wartime could sever lover from lover but, paradoxically, also shield prison-camp escapees who made it across them to sanctuary. Renoir's genius was that he could show that an emergent new order, manifestly better on the ground, comes at a steep price, tragically, in the air.

*

"Good company" is harder to make than "good war"
Author: chromo from san francisco, usa
19 May 2000

From Jean Renoir's autobiography, My Life and My Films (1974):

"If a French farmer should find himself dining at the same table as a French financier, those two Frenchmen would have nothing to say to each other, each being unconcerned with the other's interests. But if a French farmer meets a Chinese farmer they will find any amount to talk about. This theme of the bringing together of men through their callings and common interests has haunted me all my life and does so still. It is the theme of 'La Grande Illusion' and it is present, more or less, in all my works."

In a sense, 'La Grande Illusion' is a counterpoint in an argument of stories: in one corner, Jean Renoir & friends singing about humor and good cheer; in the other, a handful of Germans demanding bigotry and murderous pride.My opinion of the movie is quite high, but I think, from having read that book and a few others, that the real accomplishments in 'Illusion,' artistic and thematic, come directly from Renoir's deep affection of people and our loves.

To live your life with love and humor takes thoughtful delicacy. It's much easier to close your heart, fence yourself in, and never have a true friend in your life: and such closed-hearted people are inevitably the ones who coolly turn the political screws until the world bursts into famine and war.

It was too much to think that 'La Grande Illusion' would prevent the then coming war, as Renoir hoped. But to look at the story again, as a lyrical anti-fascist statement and a call to weigh friendship and good company over nationalism (of any sort), that I think is where the story gets really good.

The modern era continues to give us a real choice. We can kill, without effort, to subdue the stranger. Or we can join the stranger for a meal and a conversation, and become friends. Which of these is the true vision of the world's "leaders"? Cold hearts, cold future.Something to think about as you watch the movie.

*

Class(ic)!
9/10
Author: Gary170459 from Derby, UK
28 May 2006

Every time I watch this I find something else I hadn't thought of before, every viewing is an augmented experience. Things I hadn't spotted at 11, 19, 22 etc I spotted last night, mostly inconsequential but still adding to the picture 36 years after my first time. That to me is the difference between great films and Great films, one of the reasons why this ostensibly simple movie is one of the all time Greats.

And it is simple (the simplest things are usually the best) - boring to some people who sadly will never understand its logic and magic - an absorbing prisoner of war tale that is also a prisoner of class tale. It defines that class loyalties are more meaningful than patriotism even if not always practical, and that to those who consider themselves to have breeding it's far more important to have "blood" than capital. Boldieu and Rauffenstein embody this, they both knew their chivalric world order was being gradually diminished - the next war will and was led by people without breeding, types like Marechal and Rosenthal who fought on.

The most significant borders are not between countries, races, religions, sexes or ages but those between the classes. Renoir was at his most inspired with Illusion, with so many memorable images and set-pieces, an engrossing storyline even when down to trying to say blue eyes in German or being posh by gossipping in English, and fantastic acting by all concerned. Everything has already been covered and better in previous posts, but I would add I don't understand why Regle du jeu is the Renoir film that gets the kudos today - unless by being deliberately more obscure it appeals to influential Artheads.The French film I love the most.

*

A Timeless Classic
Author: Snow Leopard from Ohio
21 June 2001

Jean Renoir's classic "La Grande Illusion" has something to recommend it to anyone - there is fine acting, directing, writing, and photography, and a story filled with memorable characters who are involved in action, suspense, and drama, with some comic parts and even, later in the film, some romance. All of it fits together perfectly to create a timeless and very satisfying experience.

The movie takes place during World War I, and is often considered an anti-war film, but the themes about humanity, relationships, loyalties, and identities are all timeless and go beyond any mere political statement. The interplay between persons of different nationalities and classes, thrown together by the war, leads to good drama and makes some profound points about human nature. The story primarily follows three Frenchmen who are taken prisoner by the Germans, showing us how they manage to deal with their confinement, and allowing us to watch their disappointments and their attempts to escape. The other main character is a German prison camp commander with whom they become friendly, raising complicated questions of loyalty and duty.

The character studies are excellent, and all the fine acting and directing get the most of out the possibilities. The settings are convincing and help the viewer feel what it was like to be in camp with the prisoners, sharing their boredom and their longing for freedom. The plot itself is interesting, and has some exciting moments, but the main emphasis is on what the characters learn about themselves and about humanity in general. There are many thoughtful scenes and some nicely defined secondary characters that round out the picture.This is a fine movie, deserving of its reputation, and one that should appeal highly to anyone who enjoys classic cinema.

*

A Vision of Reality the Way it Shouldn't Be...
Author: Donald J. Lamb from Philadelphia, PA
20 August 1999

It is a wonder to see a film from the 1930's so definite in its view and opinions, yet so touching and revelatory. Jean Renoir's GRAND ILLUSION is a film of great importance, one that improves with each viewing. Having just finished the picture again for the first time in some 7 years, I was struck by its freshness. It is an Anti-War film set during World War I that is something to watch. It demands intense viewing.

This is a French work of art by the great Renoir, who would make his most acclaimed film, RULES OF THE GAME, two years later. If you ask me, GRAND ILLUSION is the superior pic and holds up immeasurably better. The small doses of humor and original characters in this film foresee the classic "shooting party" of RULES OF THE GAME. With this movie, Renoir uses prisoners-of-war and the ludicrous element of war so prevalent in early 20th Century Europe and merges them into a film not unlike a play (an extremely well-written play). The viewer has no illusions as to whether or not a war is happening. We happen not to see any battles or gunplay, rather, the human element between men and women who are not so different no matter their ethnicity.

Renoir's camera is an incredible tool used throughout. He probes the characters at the various prison camps with some smooth dolly shots and brilliant use of focus and pull-backs. It seems like an extension of his hand, much like his father's paintings. One striking scene has some weary soldiers singing the French "Las Marseilles" after getting third hand knowledge of a French victory over their German captors. Any scene with Erich von Stroheim is interesting because he is human and not some mindless German dictator so many people would come to know at the time of the film's release. He is a broken man, scarred by war and looking to gain a friend in the enemy. This is rare.

As far as prison camp films go, these guys seem to have it easy, however the fact that they are officers gives us some explanation. The story-line effectively moves from escape attempts to human realization of the situation they are in. Parts of it reminded me of STALAG 17, Billy Wilder's 1953 classic no doubt inspired by GRAND ILLUSION. This is Wilder's film without the Hollywood touch, realist and sometimes drab. Abel Gance's J'ACCUSE would follow a year later. If you want to see some anti-WWI films with two completely opposite methods of warning beneath the surface, see these two flicks back to back.

The illusion of reality is shattered by war, Renoir is telling us. If only it could be as simple as those amazing shots of the countryside from inside the German woman's house: a breathtaking, simple look at a peaceful scene the way it should be.

RATING: ***1/2

*

Its Historical Significance Is No Illusion
9/10
Author: Lechuguilla from Dallas, Texas
12 October 2006

Franklin Roosevelt said of it: "Everyone who believes in democracy should see this film". Mussolini banned it in Italy, and Hitler's Ministry of Propaganda banned it in Nazi Germany. The film vanished during WWII, and was thought to have been destroyed. Then it was recovered in 1946, but in an altered state. Decades would then pass before the original negative could be confirmed.

The Nazis hated the film because of its pacifist, anti-war, theme. The setting for the film is Germany in 1914, during WWI. Germans capture several French officers and take them to a POW camp, specifically for officers. After several escape attempts, the French officers get shuffled off to a presumably escape proof castle, run by Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim), a flamboyant German officer with a forbidding persona.

Unlike other war movies, "La Grande Illusion" shows no actual combat, and the number of deaths is minimal. The film's tone is surprisingly lighthearted. Writer/Director Renoir conveys a sense of community among the French prisoners, despite their differences in social class. We see them several times sitting around a table eating, and chatting amiably. The cordiality between prisoners and their jailers is also surprising. It's not exactly a hug fest, but the predominant feeling among the men is respect for fellow officers, even if those officers are your enemy. None of the French or German officers want war; it's just their "duty", when called on.

In most of the film, scenes take place in small rooms or in that castle. Toward the film's end, outdoor vistas provide a visual contrast. Except at the film's end, I was amazed at how drab the surroundings are. Room furnishings are unadorned and contain the barest of essentials. Tables and floors are made of simple wood. The clothes are dreary and depressing. The stone castle is dank and forbidding. Music is made with simple instruments, like a harmonica or a flute. Of course, given the time period and considering the setting, such drabness and simplicity are not surprising. But the contrast with today's complex world of modern luxuries, that we take for granted, is striking. The film's B&W cinematography accentuates the drab environment.

The story can be a bit confusing in the first half, because the relationship between the jailers and the prisoners is so unusual. Viewers need to give the film wide latitude on this. Watching the film a second time helps clarify who is doing what to whom. The plot is easier to follow in the second half.

The film's acting is credible. I especially liked the performance of von Stroheim, all decked out in that imposing uniform, that monocle, and with that stiff bearing."La Grande Illusion" is an unusual "war" film, one that had real significance during WWII. For this reason alone, it deserves to be seen.

*

So,I finally saw it and of course I thought it was one of the best films ever!!!
10/10
Author: anton-6 from sweden
4 January 2002

I have tried to get this film for months on the criterion collection but it seems impossible here in Sweden(Maybe not impossible,you can order it on Amazon but that´s to expensive).So when I finally found it on video this is what I say about it:

This anti-war masterpiece film is really ONE OF THE GREATEST FILMS EVER.I almost liked it as much as seven samurai.It´s a about a group of French prisoners during the world war one.

The performances is simply some of the best I have seen(Jean Gabin Erich von Stroheim...).The cinematography is beautiful,great script but I guess i was most impressed by the direction by Jean Renoir.

I don´t think that I have been more touched by a film then this.It has such a deep humanity.A poetic film that should be seen by every one.Also remember that I have only seen this film once and it could be in my top 20 over the best films ever and when I watch it again it could be in top 3.

RATING: 5/5

*

Class and the Great War
Author: Kimberley (kimmb) from Kentucky, USA
19 September 2002

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I had to watch this movie as part of my graduate film class, and I didn't have terribly high hopes. I took French classes for five years, and my experience with French movies mostly involved Gerard Depardieu in some state of undress and many cameo appearances by disrobed ladies.But this wasn't bad...perhaps partly because it was made in 1937, before taking your clothes off onscreen was such a common occurence.

This is, ultimately, a class picture. If you know anything about World War I, you know that a lot of the class ideals about upper class gentility and the way an aristocrat behaves died in the trenches. The war was a great leveller, and that leveling is what is showcased here.

You never see the actual war. This isn't All Quiet on the Western Front. You only see some of the French officer POWs, and their treatment at the hands of their German captors. If you're familiar with war movies, you might be surprised at how cushy these prisoners have it--World War II certainly did not exhibit this kind of easy-going "don't escape now, you said you wouldn't" kind of attitude. But this was a different time, remember, when gentlemen still behaved as such, and those of your social standing were your equals, regardless of nationality.

The unlikely friendship that develops between the Frenchman de Boeldieu and the German von Rauffenstein comes out of this class mentality. They are the upper class that is slowly dying out, due to the large number of lower and working class men that are entering the army and gaining some amount of money and respectability. It is the true emergence of the middle class, and the end of the "grand illusion" that was the importance of "old money". Fellow Frenchmen Marechal and de Boeldieu can never truly be friends, even though their nationality would lead you to accept their friendship over one between supposed enemies--Marechal is working-class, a mechanic. "Your gloves, your tobacco, everything seems to come between us," he tells de Boeldieu.

De Boeldieu does, in the end, sacrifice himself for his countryman, but not simply because it is the patriotic and French thing to do. "For a man of the people, it is terrible to die in war. For you, for me, it's a good solution," he says to von Rauffenstien. For the upper classes, this was truly the way they, and their way of life, died. The men that emerged, like Marechal, were the ones who would go on to shape the world we inhabit today.

Wonderful performances all around, especially from von Stroheim. Truly overall a fairly great movie, and much preferable to seeing Gerard with no clothes.

©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p37

23/10/2015 10:32 par tellurikwaves

  • ©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p37

    ©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p37

    23/10/2015 10:32 par tellurikwaves

©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p35

23/10/2015 09:39 par tellurikwaves

  • ©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p35

    ©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p35

    23/10/2015 09:39 par tellurikwaves

Dita Parlo (L'ATALANTE etc...)

 

*

Échanges d’informations, de documents et d’expériences, c’est donc dans ce cadre que le négatif original du film de Jean Renoir entra au milieu des années 1970 dans les collections de la Cinémathèque de Toulouse. Mais où et dans quelles conditions le Gosfilmofond, fondé officiellement en 1948, avait-il retrouvé ce précieux matériel, que Jean Renoir rechercha en vain toute sa vie ?
*
En 1945, lorsque l’Armée Rouge était entrée dans Berlin,elle avait saisi comme trophées de guerre un certain nombre d'œuvres d’art, et notamment des pellicules conservées par le Reichsfilmarchiv. Ces « films-trophées », comme les appelèrent les Soviétiques, furent tellement nombreux à entrer alors en Union soviétique qu’ils furent un des éléments déterminants de la création du Gosfilmofond.
*
Parmi eux,et au milieu de titres américains, allemands,français – négatifs, matériels intermédiaires, positifs confondus – se trouvait le négatif original de La Grande Illusion que les Allemands eux mêmes avaient saisi à Paris en 1940 et emporté alors à Berlin. Paris-Berlin-Moscou-Toulouse : l’incroyable voyage effectué par ce négatif en une quarantaine d’années rappelle certes que le cinéma a toujours représenté un enjeu politique important. Mais il montre surtout que la collaboration internationale est indispensable au travail de l’ombre mené par les archives pour sauver les films.
*
La restauration des Archives Françaises du Film, du CNC et de STUDIOCANAL, réalisée en 1997, avait permis de générer un marron, élément de sécurité, et des éléments de tirage image et son, afin que le film continue d’être vu et exploité dans sa version originale, fidèle au montage initial voulu par Jean Renoir. En 2011, STUDIOCANAL et la Cinémathèque de Toulouse décident de restaurer le film en numérique avec les techniques du XXIe siècle. Le négatif nitrate a été numérisé et restauré par le laboratoire L’Immagine Ritrovata (Bologne) permettant ainsi de retrouver une image originelle.
 

Fin

©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p34

22/10/2015 06:35 par tellurikwaves

  • ©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p34

    ©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p34

    22/10/2015 06:35 par tellurikwaves

©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p33

22/10/2015 06:32 par tellurikwaves

  • ©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p33

    ©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p33

    22/10/2015 06:32 par tellurikwaves

©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p32

22/10/2015 06:20 par tellurikwaves

  • ©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p32

    ©-DR- LA GRANDE ILLUSION de Jean Renoir (1937) p32

    22/10/2015 06:20 par tellurikwaves

Les différentes réceptions du film :
Lors de sa sortie en 1937, le triomphe que connaît La Grande Illusion est immense. Il remporte tous les records de fréquentation et obtient les meilleures recettes de l'année.La Grande Illusion reçoit d'emblée un immense succès critique, de L'Action Française à L'Humanité (cf. dossier Ressources)Le négatif original de La Grande Illusion occupe une place centrale dans l’histoire des collections de la Cinémathèque de Toulouse. Tout d’abord parce qu’il s’agit d’une œuvre essentielle du patrimoine cinématographique mondial, profondément européenne dans sa thématique, et du seul film qui valut à Jean Renoir à la fois un succès critique et un succès public.

Mais le trajet que suivit ce négatif, et au terme duquel il arriva à la Cinémathèque de Toulouse, illustre à la fois les aléas de la conservation et la relation particulière entre cette archive et la Russie. Quand le Gosfilmofond (Archive nationale du cinéma en URSS) choisit de donner à la Cinémathèque de Toulouse le négatif original nitrate du film, ce geste intervient dans le cadre d’une collaboration inaugurée par les deux archives au milieu des années 1960, et qui n’a fait que se renforcer depuis.

Raymond Borde,fondateur de la Cinémathèque de Toulouse, décida en effet dès son adhésion à la Fédération internationale des archives du film (FIAF) en 1965, d’entrer en contact avec son homologue à Moscou, Viktor Privato,puis Vladimir Dmitriev. Une collaboration exceptionnelle, fondée sur la confiance, la passion pour le cinéma, et la même conception d’une archive du film, vit alors le jour.

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