Š-DR- LES SAVATES DU BON DIEU de Jean-Claude Brisseau (2000) p4

27/11/2014 12:27 par tellurikwaves

Stanislas Merhar : Fred

LES SAVATES DU BON DIEU de Jean-Claude Brisseau (2000) p3

27/11/2014 08:46 par tellurikwaves

Emil Abossolo-Mbo ,un bon acteur dans un rôle intéressant: Maguette

Š-DR-LES SAVATES DU BON DIEU de Jean-Claude Brisseau (2000) p2

27/11/2014 08:29 par tellurikwaves

Interview (part1)

Objectif Cinéma : En voyant vos films, je pense à John Ford, lorsque vous inscrivez vos personnages dans un mouvement de mélancolie lors d'un voyage. Il y a aussi la famille, lieux de tous les affects que Ford et vous-mêmes avez su transmettre au cinéma.

*
Jean-Claude Brisseau : John Ford, je l'aimais bien quand j'avais dix ou douze ans alors que je ne savais même pas qu'il s'appelait John Ford ! Il y a un sentiment tragique de la vie que j'aime beaucoup chez lui, venant probablement de la nostalgie d'un monde définitivement perdu et d'un amour perdu aussi. Il y a souvent dans ces films, un héros amoureux d'une femme depuis plus de vingt ans et qu'elle ait vieillie ou non ne change rien. Cet amour est fidèle. La solitude et le déracinement sont aussi au cœur de Ford, qui tente de retrouver le pays ou la mère originelle dans le désert, symbole de la souffrance qu'elle soit amoureuse ou philosophique.

Objectif Cinéma : Je retrouve dans vos films ce sentiment de mélancolie et de perte qu'incarnent vos personnages au milieu d'un paysage. Le paysage est à l'unisson des états d'âmes et il devient charnel et métaphysique. Je pense notamment à Céline mais aussi à Les Savates du bon Dieu.

Jean-Claude Brisseau : John Ford utilise ces paysages de façon quasi mystique. A la limite du mystique et de la poésie et cela m'a guidé durant toute ma vie.

Objectif Cinéma : La représentation du désir féminin est aussi un enjeu dans tous vos films, avec parfois des effets de miroirs d'un film à l'autre. Notamment dans L'Ange Noir où Paul fait un rêve érotique. Il y a un travelling avant sur le corps de la femme et c'est exactement la même position dans Céline avec le mouvement de la main de l'homme, toujours dans un fantasme aussi dans De Bruit et de Fureur Et chaque femme a sa couleur : blanc et bleu pour la fée / sorcière De Bruit et de Fureur, l'or pour Céline, le rouge pour Sylvie Vartan l'ange noir.

Jean-Claude Brisseau : Je dois dire que c'est fait exprès dans la mesure où j'aime travailler sur des motifs. Pour mon premier film, Un jeu brutal, je voulais que la couleur soit celle de l'herbe jaunie par le soleil en septembre. Il s'agissait de dire qu'après toutes les brûlures de la passion qui sont en partie terminées, il ne reste plus que cette herbe brûlé et jaune. J'ai obtenu un film bleu, ce qui ne m'a pas beaucoup plu.

 N'exagérons pas, car il y cette couleur dans une séquence mais bon, je n'ai pas réussi totalement mon projet de couleur. Pour aller dans ce sens du féminin que vous remarquez, je me souviens que l'on m'avait demandé pour Noce Blanche avec la jeune Vanessa Paradis, si je n'avais pas pu écrire l'inverse, à savoir filmer l'histoire d'une femme de quarante ans environ, tombant amoureuse d'un jeune homme.

Or je voulais que l'homme (Bruno Cremer) , qui a peur de cette toute jeune fille, lorsqu'il regarde soit saisi par cette vision, qu'il la reçoive comme un cadeau de Noël. Je travaille toujours ces scènes très minutieusement, car je dois moi aussi recevoir cette jeune femme comme un cadeau, raison pour laquelle je contrôle la lumière pour observer et étudier son corps, ses mouvements afin de savoir comment je vais la filmer et cela je ne peux pas le faire pour un homme ! (rires)

Objectif Cinéma : Il me semble que vous recherchez dans tous vos films à représenter ce féminin et j'aimerai savoir si vous avez envie de réaliser un film entièrement pris dans ce désir de représentation, d'aller au delà du miroir, je pense notamment à cette scène surréaliste dans Céline où Tchéky Karyo a une vision érotique dans le bureau de l'avocat.

Jean-Claude Brisseau : C'est ce que je veux faire depuis cinq ans et à chaque fois je ne peux pas. Le projet est toujours refusé ou du moins reporté, car tout le monde a la trouille.

Objectif Cinéma : Qui a peur ?

*
Jean-Claude Brisseau : Je ne sais pas. J'ai raté quelque chose. Tout le monde me l'a dit ,et ça je ne m'en rendais pas compte, que j'avais eu une chance extraordinaire, une ascension fulgurante dans les années 89/90, que je pouvais tout me permettre dans le cinéma. Or j'ai déçu les attentes de tout le monde en faisant un "petit film" Céline, déconcertant certains qui pensaient que j'allais dans une certaine voix balisée du cinéma. Honnêtement, j'aurai aimé faire des "gros" films importants de tant en tant, et encore ça dépend desquels, mais surtout continuer l'expérimental, faire des tous petits films, explorer une voix du cinéma, comme avec Céline.

A la même époque, j'avais aussi un projet de film La chose Secrète, une version féminine De bruit et de fureur. J'avais obtenu le fond de soutien et je voulais le payer moi-même. Je produis toujours mes films et pour l'anecdote, quinze jours avant le début du tournage de L'Ange Noir, Alain Sarde le producteur m'annonce qu'il n'a plus assez d'argent pour mon film. En fait, il préférait que ce soit moi qui mette l'argent, c'est tout. Tout comme Les Savates du Bon Dieu où les producteurs n'ont quasiment pas mis un centime. Je dois dire que ça m'emmerdait assez, car j'aurais bien aimé cet argent-là et financer seul La Chose secrète.

Objectif Cinéma : Qu'en est-il maintenant du film ?

Jean-Claude Brisseau : Le film doit pouvoir se monter actuellement et ce sera filmer l'érotisme.

Š-DR-LES SAVATES DU BON DIEU de Jean-Claude Brisseau (2000)

27/11/2014 08:21 par tellurikwaves

Š-DR-LA TRAVERSEE DE PARIS de Claude Autant Lara (1956) fin

25/11/2014 22:57 par tellurikwaves

Récompenses et distinctions(source Wiki)

Coupe Volpi pour la meilleure interprétation masculine pour Bourvil.
Prix du meilleur film par le syndicat français de la critique du cinéma 1956.
Prix Méliès 1957.
Nomination pour le Lion d'or de la Mostra de Venise 1956.
Nomination pour Jean Gabin au BAFTA 1957 dans la catégorie « meilleur acteur étranger ».

Š-DR-LA TRAVERSEE DE PARIS de Claude Autant Lara (1956) p20

25/11/2014 22:54 par tellurikwaves

Š-DR-LA TRAVERSEE DE PARIS de Claude Autant Lara (1956) p19

25/11/2014 22:52 par tellurikwaves

Sites externes

Miscellaneous Sites

• ANICA Italian Association of Cinematographic Audiovisual and Multimedia Industries - release info (italian) [Italy]
• Cinefacts (German)
• IMCDb.org: cars, bikes, trucks and other vehicles seen in this production
• Indiemoviez (Spanish)
• MovieMeter (Dutch)
• SoundtrackCollector - Soundtrack Information
• Virtual History
• YoVideo (French)
• Zelluloid.de (German)

Photographs

• CinEmotions.com
• OutNow.CH - Image Gallery
• filmposter-archiv.de - German movie poster

Š-DR-LA TRAVERSEE DE PARIS de Claude Autant Lara (1956) p18

25/11/2014 22:43 par tellurikwaves

Funny and profound; a gem of French cinema

"La traversee de Paris" is a brilliant and often profound blend of comedy and drama. The story is rather uncommon and told in a most anti-rhetoric way. During World War II, in Paris occupied by the Nazis, two men have to deliver four cases filled with pork meat, for the black market. They cross the city overnight, trying to avoid French cops and German soldiers, as well.

The fun is mainly based on the duets between the two "heroes", Grandgil (Jean Gabin), and Martin (Bourvil), supported by a first-rate witty script. These two characters are drawn with psychological depth. Grandgil is somehow a mysterious man. Sometimes he seems to be a sort of thug. He despises and bullies innocent by-standers. He wants to cheat and steal the pork meat, following a sort of selfish anarchism. But many clues make the viewer feel that all this should be a Grandgil's joke.

On the contrary, Martin is proud to be a decent person, and to keep honest and correct even working for the black market. The unavoidable quarrels arising between the two men build a non-standard but deep friendship. Extraordinary is the actors' job. Jean Gabin is deservedly a cinema legend, and never disappoints the audience. Here the always excellent Bourvil is on a par with his great partner.

On the background we have the masterly rendered atmosphere of those bleak years. French people is oppressed by deprivations and lack of food. Patriotism and heroic resistance are far from being appreciated. People are widely depressed by French defeat on the battle-field, and just wait for the end of the war and of German invasion. The first scene sets the tone of the movie. A blind beggar plays the Marseillese with his fiddle. Martin is displeased. What's the point of vainly provoking the Nazis? However he gives a coin to the beggar. And even a German officer gives money to the blind man.

As a matter of fact, German soldiers do not appear as cruel barbarians. The officer who questions Grandgil and Martin is even nice. But when something wrong happens (namely, an attack against a German colonel), then the inhuman ferocity of Nazism shows his face. And the French hostages blame the partisans for that! Meanwhile, the swashbuckler Grandgil, always ready to despise other people's cowardice, realizes that in tragic circumstances one must care only for himself and his own life. There is a lot of depth in these scenes, believe me.

It is not surprising that this excellent movie was reviled by French audiences and critics when released. This anti-heroic, even petty representation of French people at war-time, was surely hard to swallow. A magnificent nocturnal photography and artistic camera work, together with a first-rate direction by Autant-Lara, add further value to this superb movie.The final scene may appear somehow stuck to the movie. But it contains an important message. Life has won, life continues. Common, simple, decent people survived. Barbarians have lost, doomed to destruction by their own infernal wickedness."La traversee de Paris" is a gem of French cinema. Highly recommended.

The bringing together of two great comic actors of the calibre of Jean Gabin and Bourvil could not fail to be a great success, but this film surpasses the audience's expectations by several hundred kilometres. For both actors, this is a real tour de force. Bourvil is the hapless stooge to Gabin's outrageously forceful character, and the double act is unbelievably funny. One can't help but have pity for the poor unemployed Parisian as his night-time trudge across Paris is turned into his worst nightmare.

Whilst much of the humour is in the performance of its two stars (joined by Louis de Funes in that amazing cellar scene near the start of the film), the script is well-written and genuinely funny in places. The menace of the Nazi threat is there all the same, and this is heightened by the darkened sets representing a deserted Paris, resounding with the distant tread of the German patrols. The last twenty minutes of the film is a distinct contrast to what preceded it, and the humour appears to fade very quickly into drama. Luckily, our heroes emerge unscathed (possibly), but the threat of what might have been substantially changes one's view of the film.

Needless to say, when this film was released in 1956, scarcely 10 years after the end of the Second World War, it was widely reviled. It presented a view of the occupation that, whilst honest and accurate in retrospect, had never before been seen in French cinema and which was simply too much for many to stomach. Gabin's character was a particular target for scorn, representing a cynical free-thinking attitude that could only be regarded as dangerous and anti-Republican. The film's director, Claude Autant-Lara, should be credited with immense courage in presenting to the French people his perception of the war, unadulterated by the constraints of convention. That he should achieve this through one of the funniest of French films is a remarkable achievement.

Author: (pierika@total.net) from Montreal, Canada
21 June 1999

Marcel Aymé was an excellent writer who left us, among other things, short stories set in occupied Paris. No patriotic pathos or teary laments, but a dark humorous look at everyday life. With this movie Bourvil revived his carreer and established himself as a real great comedian. Jean Gabin, as usual, is excellent. The story line is simple : two men have to carry across Paris black market pig meat. Bourvil, an unemployed cab driver does it for money, Gabin, a well known artist does it for kicks.

Author: raskimono
28 May 2005

Claude Aurent-Lara was one of the best directors France ever produced. A good director takes a similar harmless story and elevates to high art. A bad one cannot. It is in the way he frames a shot, builds the tension and especially the transition shots that define one. In that case, Aurent-Lara ranks up there with the likes of Eisenstein and Hitchcock. The man was an ultimate craftsman who understood cinema. Shame on Truffaut who just showed his ignorance for slamming him and his movies.

This movie also known as four full bags teams two of France's biggest stars of the era, Jean Gabin and the one name Bourvil in a delicious comedy with a human heart. It is WWII and occupied France is running short of pigs thus creating a black market for it. Bourvil's job is to get the already killed pig's carcass aka pork in four cases and deliver it to the seller who will take it to the market. He meets and enlists the "homeless" Gabin to assist. They must outwit scared Parisiens and Nazis on the night watch to achieve this deceitfully simple task.

That is all you need to know to enjoy this war time romp. The laughs come at a clip a minute, mainly from the garrulous and belligerent Gabin with Bourvil, the straight man in their Lawrence and hardy relationship. Before the night is over and daylight comes, we shall meet dogs, drunks, experience the fear of an occupied people who hope for a better tomorrow all done with a airy touch. And the last scene will make any cinema lover and human being rejoice. I love this movie so much, I think though it is not as complex as Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove shares its agony and eccentricity of the nature of war.

Author: FilmCriticLalitRao from FIPRESCI/Cinema of the world
25 July 2007

Claude Autant Lara was an important film maker of what is known as "old style French cinema". After "Douce", it is one of his most famous films. This film is a good portrayal of all the qualities good or bad with which a French person would like to associate. No aspect of human behavior is left untouched. There is greed, seduction, fear, optimism etc. Much of the film's brilliance is due to its simple style. There is not much of dramatization and what viewers see is a display of pure acting.

The two major roles are played by Jean Gabin and Bourvil. As the film is set in Paris, viewers get an unbiased visual depiction of one of the most beautiful cities. If there are people who might not like it, it must be Nouvelle vague people. As they were experimenting with their own cinema, they decided to ignore what they called "cinema of quality". The best thing which has been portrayed in this film is that after the end of the war people lived happily. This is an indication of optimism in this film.

Author: Bob Taylor (bob998@sympatico.ca) from Canada
13 June 2005

Marcel Ayme's original story goes this way. Martin and Grandgil hire out to a corrupt wholesaler, Jambier, in wartime Paris. They agree to transport about 200 lbs of pork in four suitcases to a butcher who is waiting to receive this contraband (rationing is in effect, remember). Grandgil through his histrionics, increases the fee to 5,000 francs from the original 900. They encounter some fascinating and corrupt people along the way. Martin kills Grandgil at the latter's studio: he's enraged by the artist's lack of concern for the value of work and the concept of honor. Martin delivers the pork finally and is arrested for murder.

Well, you wouldn't recognize the story that Aurenche and Bost created out of this sour little saga. They have given it a happy ending. I am not going to tell you what happens to Gabin and Bourvil, but it is a crowd pleaser. I have stated my reserve about late-period Gabin in the past, but here he is terrific. The rant at Jambier's store is very funny: "Jambier, 45 rue Poliveau, my price is a thousand francs!" Bourvil is a great foil for him; he's more rational and less risk-taking than Gabin, if also less imaginative.

Gabin a great comic? That's not the image that springs to my mind when I think of Gabin, but then neither do I think of Bourvil as a dramatic actor - until I stick 'Le Circle Rouge' in the machine for the nnnth time. Whatever, the two were teamed brilliantly in this post-war nod to the Black Market in Paris during the occupation. The 80 minute running time is just about right for this romp that obliges regular Black Marketeer Bourvil to work with a dep, Gabin, and transport valises stuffed with pork from arondissment to arondissment under the eyes of the Germans.

The movie is kick-started via a cameo from all-time great French comic Louis de Funes and it seldom lets up. Although the soundtrack is replete with Parisian underwold slang the thing is so visual that even non French speakers could follow the story in the original, non-subtitled version. The denoument, such as it is, that Gabin is really a celebrity (artist) and is doing the gig for kicks rather than money, is fairly irrelevant, and the last scene, with Bourvil, now a railway porter, toting Gabin's bags is neither here nor there.

Even today, half a century after the events, the French are still sensitive to anything apertaining to the Second World War and the French movies that address those feelings, whether sentimental, frivolous, or dramatic, are among the best movies of any country. This is no exception. Five stars in anyone's solar system.

Author: jotix100 from New York
18 November 2011

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Paris during the German occupation was a city with limited supply of basic needs. As the story begins we are taken to a butcher shop where people are seen waiting to buy whatever is available. Alas, when the last scrap of meat is sold, the crowd outside must go home empty handed. Passing the store, Marcel and Mariette Martin, witness the frustration, although they are on the way to be part of an illegal business that will mean some meat for their meager diet plus some money.

The Martins come to Jambier's basement where a large pig is going to be slaughtered. Marcel's job is to take the meat across Paris to a butcher that is going to pay handsomely for the rare commodity. Since the hog that was killed weighed more than a hundred pounds, it is almost impossible for Marcel to transfer the valuable cargo to its destination. Outside Jambier's he finds a man that looks strong enough to help him. This man is Grandgil, a painter, who happens to be in the neighborhood.

Grandgil, realizing there is a lot of money involved in the deal, shames Jambier into giving him more money, while Marcel is to get the original share. The two men embark on a night adventure through a dark Paris. The two allies find all kinds of diversions while attempting to deliver the meat. Dogs are attracted by the scent within the suitcases as well as other individuals. Their adventure ends badly when Marcel and Grandgil are found by a German patrol and taken to their headquarters.

Claude Autant-Lara, the wonderful French director took a look at those dark days of the German occupation of Paris and turned it into a winning comedy that plays much better than it should because of the strength of the two main characters who come together because the promise of a lucrative deal, but who end up becoming friends. The war is omnipresent throughout the film, but it stays out of the way until the incident that marks the end of adventure of the two Parisians at the center of the story.

The pairing of two French idols, Jean Gabin and Bourvil, pays in unexpected ways. Both actors show why they were the professionals they were in the French cinema. Their collaboration came natural. Mr. Autant- Lara gets good performances from his strong cast that included Louis De Funes, in a small role, Jeannette Batti, Georgette Anys, and Jacques Martin, among them.A must see for fans of the great Claude Autant-Lara

Author: Scott44 from United States
12 April 2014

User reviewer jameswtravers ("Bourvil and Gabin at their funniest", jameswtravers from London, England, 18 June 2000) offers background about the negative critical reaction. Bob Taylor ("Hugely entertaining", Bob Taylor from Canada, 13 June 2005) informs us the plot does not resemble the original story.Set in Occupied France during the second World War, Bourvil (Martin) recruits fellow black-marketeer Gabin (Grandgil) to transport a recently butchered pig to a predetermined destination in Paris by carrying two pairs of large suitcases. Much of the killing of the pig is seen on camera. Although the scene is filmed brilliantly, I always downgrade movies that have to resort to showing live animals being slaughtered.

When we think of Gabin's monumental filmography, and know in this film we have French Resistance, Black Marketeers, French police and German soldiers/Gestapo men we naturally expect a very gritty journey. (Gabin reminds many people of Spencer Tracy. However, unlike Tracy, Gabin was always very convincing in dangerous, underworld roles. )However, "La traversee de Paris" is not entirely suspenseful. It also has comedic elements and it is allegorical. Gabin's Grandgil is rousing and larger than life, while Brouvil's Martin is duller and timid. Yet, Grandgil is an anti-hero. He unnecessarily creates tensions, particularly with lower class strangers. As compared with Martin's propensity to restore peace (with his wife), and especially with the very likable German interrogator, Grandgil is, well, the only pig in the vicinity.

We also find out that this pig Grandgil also has a get-out-of-jail-for-free card. If we begin to associate Grandvil with the French who cooperated with the occupation, his overly rambunctious and demonstrative character seems less mystifying. "La traversee de Paris" upends the universe of post-war French film-goers used to watching films where cooperators are pariahs. This is likely why many film critics were opposed to it on release.The direction and the pacing hold up today. Gabin turns in another great performance of his top-shelf career. It is "off message," but another worthwhile nugget in Gabin's exceptional career.

With Bourvil, Jean Gabin and Louis de Funès, this movie almost had to be a good comedy. And it was funny. The three actors all give solid performances. The movie is about two guys (Bourvil and Gabin) who travel through Paris at night to deliver some black market meat during WWII.Out of 100, I gave it 73.

Š-DR- LA TRAVERSEE DE PARIS de Claude Autant Lara (1956) p17

25/11/2014 22:29 par tellurikwaves

Š-DR-LA TRAVERSEE DE PARIS de Claude Autant Lara (1956) p16

25/11/2014 22:26 par tellurikwaves

Autour du film

Une légende tenace veut que le film eut un succès public mitigé ; c'est faux puisqu'avec 4 893 174 entrées, le film se place 4e au box-office de 1956.

Le choix de Bourvil pour le rôle de Martin fit l’objet d’une opposition si violente de la part de Marcel Aymé qu’il finit par inquiéter la production. Claude Autant-Lara, qui tenait à son choix, dut diminuer son budget de plus de 50 %, renonçant ainsi à la couleur, pour obtenir toute liberté quant à la distribution. Marcel Aymé reconnut par la suite son erreur concernant Bourvil, ajoutant de plus : « C'est vraiment la toute première fois qu'on ait fait au cinéma quelque chose tiré d'un de mes livres qui soit non seulement bien, mais d'une très grande qualité. Et dans ce cas particulier, ce n'était pas facile ».

Avant ce film, Bourvil n’avait jamais travaillé avec Jean Gabin. Leur première scène fut justement celle de la première rencontre entre Martin et Grandgil. Lorsque Gabin rentre (de dos) dans le bistrot et lance un « Bonsoir » inquiétant, l’acteur Bourvil était terrifié.

L’équipe technique est visible à deux reprises dans le film. Lorsque Jeannette Batti tend un savon à Jean Gabin au début du film : on peut parfaitement voir, l’espace d’une seconde, l’ombre portée de la caméra sur l’actrice. Lorsque Bourvil aperçoit Jeannette Batti qui s’apprêtait à le quitter, Gabin sort de l’immeuble seul. Lorsque Gabin quitte le couloir : on voit très clairement qu’un assistant referme la porte derrière lui.

Le budget serré du film encouragea Max Douy (célèbre chef décorateur) à réaliser des quartiers entiers de Paris en studio. Les influences expressionnistes de l’artiste (déjà visibles dans d’autres films) explosent dans certaines séquences de La Traversée de Paris. De plus, le film est certainement l’une des visions les plus justes et les plus saisissantes de la période de l’occupation au cinéma. La force du traitement réside évidemment dans la présence d’un noir et blanc très contrasté et inquiétant.

Le film a été colorisé en 1994 par la société AFT - American Film Technologies avec l'accord de Claude Autant-Lara.

Claude Autant-Lara aurait attendu cinq ans avant de tourner les retrouvailles finales gare de Lyon, minutées par le départ du train de Grandgil (il avait acquis les droits en 1950). Cette issue désabusée se démarque complètement de la nouvelle de Marcel Aymé dans laquelle Grandgil est tué par Martin qui incarne l'honneur du prolétariat contre le cynisme d'une bourgeoisie oisive.

Pour beaucoup, ce film est considéré comme le chef-d'œuvre de Claude Autant-Lara.

Les Studios de Joinville furent transformés en porcherie pour le confort des cochons figurant dans le film.

la Libération de Paris est illustrée par le défilé du 11 novembre 1944.

Le processus de l'adaptation de la nouvelle par le tandem Jean Aurenche et Pierre Bost est évoqué dans le documentaire Jean Aurenche, écrivain de cinéma de Alexandre Hilaire et Yacine Badday.

Au crépuscule de sa carrière, Claude Autant-Lara réalisa un remake inavoué de La Traversée de Paris. Il s’agit du film Les Patates, d'après le roman de Jacques Vaucherot, réalisé en 1969 avec Pierre Perret et Henri Virlojeux.

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Un chapitre du livre Liquidez Paris, de l'écrivain danois Sven Hassel, est consacré au transport d'un cochon par des soldats allemands dans le cadre du marché noir.