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La Grande Illusion

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Grande Illusion
French film poster
Directed byJean Renoir
Written byJean Renoir
Charles Spaak
Produced byAlbert Pinkovitch (uncredited)
Frank Rollmer (uncredited)
StarringJean Gabin
Dita Parlo
Pierre Fresnay
Erich von Stroheim
CinematographyChristian Matras
Edited byMarthe Huguet
Marguerite Renoir
Music byEmile Vuillermoz (musical director)
Joseph Kosma
Production
company
Réalisations d'Art Cinématographique (RAC)
Distributed byWorld Pictures (original U.S. release per Oscars database)
Janus Films (later release)
Release date
8 June 1937 (France)
Running time
114 min.
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg tour which was part of the film.

Grand Illusion (French: La Grande Illusion) is a 1937 war film directed by Jean Renoir, who co-wrote the screenplay with Charles Spaak. The story concerns class relationships among a small group of French officers who are prisoners of war during World War I and are plotting an escape.

The title of the film comes from a book — The Great Illusion by British economist Norman Angell — which argued that war is futile because of the common economic interests of all European nations. The perspective of the film, which is regarded by critics and film historians as one of the masterpieces of French cinema,[1] is generously humanistic to its characters of various nationalities.

Plot

During the First World War, two French aviators — aristocratic Captain de Boeldieu (played by Pierre Fresnay) and working-class Lieutenant Maréchal (Jean Gabin) — embark on a flight to examine the site of a blurred spot on photos from an earlier air reconnaissance mission. They are shot down by a German aviator and aristocrat, Captain von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim). Von Rauffenstein, upon returning to base, sends a subordinate to find out if the aviators are officers and, if so, to invite them to lunch. During the meal, von Rauffenstein and de Boeldieu discover they have mutual acquaintances—a depiction of the familiarity, if not solidarity, within the upper classes across national boundaries.

De Boeldieu and Maréchal are then placed in a prisoner-of-war camp, where they befriend several of their fellow countrymen. Soon after their arrival, they help dig an escape tunnel. However, just before it is completed, they are moved to another camp, and because of the language barrier, are unable to pass word of the tunnel to the incoming British prisoners.

De Boeldieu and Maréchal are moved from camp to camp, finally arriving in Wintersborn, a mountain fortress prison commanded by Von Rauffenstein, who has, since their last meeting, been disabled in battle and reassigned.[2] Wintersborn is said to be escape-proof, but de Boeldieu and Maréchal have a history of valiant escape attempts.

At Wintersborn, the pair meet one of their fellow prisoners from an earlier camp, Rosenthal (Marcel Dalio), a wealthy French Jew. The three come up with an idea after carefully observing how the German guards respond to emergencies. De Boeldieu concedes that their plan can only work for two, and suggests that Maréchal and Rosenthal escape, while he distracts the guards. After some commotion, the guards order an assembly of the prisoners in the fortress courtyard and proceed to call the roll. When it is discovered that de Boeldieu is missing, he makes his presence known high up in the fortress, drawing the German guards in pursuit. Maréchal and Rosenthal take the opportunity to lower themselves from a window by a homemade rope and flee.

Von Rauffenstein and his guards corner de Boeldieu, and von Rauffenstein pleads for him to give up. De Boeldieu refuses, and von Rauffenstein reluctantly shoots him in the stomach (though he was aiming for the legs). Nursed in his final moments by a remorseful von Rauffenstein, de Boeldieu laments that their usefulness to society (as career soldiers) will end with this war, and that he pities von Rauffenstein, who will have to find a new purpose in the emerging social order.

Maréchal and Rosenthal journey across the German countryside, trying to get back to France. Rosenthal is injured. They take refuge in the barn of a German woman, Elsa (Dita Parlo), who has been widowed by the war. She generously takes in the two men. Maréchal begins to fall in love with her, but he and Rosenthal eventually head for Switzerland, planning to go from there to France so they can return to active service. Maréchal promises to come back to Elsa if he survives. A German patrol sights the two fugitives crossing a snow-covered valley. The soldiers fire a few rounds, but are soon ordered to let the fugitives go, as they have apparently crossed the Swiss border.

Cast

Several members of the cast were not listed in the film's credits—including:

The little girl who played Lotte, Elsa's daughter, never saw the film, having died of the flu some weeks before its release.[citation needed]

Production

According to Renoir's memoirs, von Stroheim, despite being born in Vienna, Austria (then the Austro-Hungarian Empire) did not speak much German, and struggled with learning the language along with his lines in between filming scenes.

An early script version had Rosenthal and Maréchal agreeing to meet in a restaurant at the end of the war. In the final scene, everyone there would be celebrating the armistice, but instead of these men, there would be two empty chairs at a table.

Renoir was a French aviator during World War I. Gabin wears Renoir's uniform in the film.

Reception

In 1938, Grand Illusion became the first foreign language film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Also in 1938, the film won the awards for Best Foreign Film at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards and the National Board of Review.

After the film won a prize at the Venice Film Festival for "Best Artistic Ensemble" in 1937, the Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels declared it "Cinematic Public Enemy No. 1"[1] and ordered the prints to be confiscated and destroyed. The film was banned as early as October 1, 1940 by the Propaganda-Abteilung.[1] When the German Army marched into France in 1940 during World War II, the Nazis seized the prints and negative of the film, chiefly because of its anti-war message, and what were perceived as ideological criticisms pointed towards Germany on the eve of the Second World War.

It is considered to be among the greatest films ever made. Orson Welles named Grand Illusion as one of the movies he would take with him "on the ark."[3]

Prints

For many years, the original nitrate film negative was thought to have been lost in an Allied air raid in 1942 that destroyed a leading laboratory outside Paris.[1] Prints of the film were rediscovered in 1958 and restored and re-released during the early 1960s. Then, it was revealed that the original negative had been shipped back to Berlin (probably due to the efforts of Dr. Frank Hensel) to be stored in the Reichsfilmarchiv vaults.[1] In the Allied occupation of Berlin in 1945, the Reichsfilmarchiv by chance was in the Russian zone and consequently shipped along with many other films back to be the basis of the Soviet Gosfilmofond film archive in Moscow.[1] The negative was returned to France in the 1960s, but sat unidentified in storage in Toulouse Cinémathèque for over 30 years, as no one suspected it had survived.[1] It was rediscovered in the early 1990s as the Cinémathèque's nitrate collection was slowly being transferred to the French Film Archives at Bois d'Arcy. It was restored and released as the inaugural DVD of the Criterion Collection.[1] This edition is regarded as the most pristine since its 1937 premiere.

Political and historical themes

In Grand Illusion, director Jean Renoir uses the First World War (1914–1918) as a lens through which to examine Europe as it faces the rising spectre of fascism (especially in Nazi Germany) and the impending approach of the Second World War (1939–1945). Renoir's critique of contemporary politics and ideology celebrates the universal humanity that transcends national and racial boundaries and radical nationalism, suggesting that mankind's common experiences should prevail above political division, and its extension: war.

On the message of the film, Renoir himself said, in a film trailer dating from the re-release of the film in 1958:

"[Grand Illusion is] a story about human relationships. I am confident that such a question is so important today that if we don’t solve it, we will just have to say ‘goodbye’ to our beautiful world."

Class

Grand Illusion examines the relationships between different social classes in Europe. Two of the main characters — de Boëldieu and von Rauffenstein — are aristocrats. They are represented as cosmopolitan men, educated in many cultures and conversant in several languages. Their level of education and their devotion to social conventions and rituals makes them feel closer to each other than to the lower class of their own nation. They share similar social experiences: dining at Maxim's in Paris, courting dalliances with the same woman, and even know of each other through acquaintances. They converse with each other in heavily formal French and German, and in moments of intimate personal conversation, escape into English as if to hide these comments from their lower class counterparts.[4]

Renoir depicts the rule of the aristocracy as in decline, to be replaced by a new, emerging social order, led by men who were not born to privilege. He emphasizes that their class is no longer an essential component to their respective nation's politics.[citation needed] Both von Rauffenstein and de Boëldieu view their military service as a duty, and see the war as having a purpose; as such, Renoir depicts them as laudable but tragic figures whose world is disappearing and who are trapped in a code of life that is rapidly becoming meaningless.[citation needed] Both are aware that their time is past, but their reaction to this reality diverges: de Boeldieu accepts the fate of the aristocracy as a positive improvement, but von Rauffenstein does not, lamenting what he sarcastically calls the "charming legacy of the French Revolution".

Renoir contrasts the aristocrats with characters such as Maréchal (Gabin), a mechanic from Paris. The lower class characters have little in common with each other; they have different interests and are not worldly in their views or education. Nonetheless, they have a kinship too, through common sentiment and experience.[citation needed]

Renoir's message is made clear when the aristocratic de Boëldieu sacrifices himself by distracting the prison guards by dancing around, singing, and smoking his cigarette, to allow Maréchal and Rosenthal, members of the lower class, to escape. Reluctantly and strictly out of duty, von Rauffenstein is forced to shoot de Boëldieu, an act that de Boëldieu admits he would have been compelled to do were the circumstances reversed. However, in accepting his inevitable death, de Boëldieu takes comfort in the idea that "For a commoner, dying in a war is a tragedy. But for you and me, it's a good way out", and states that he has pity for von Rauffenstein who will struggle to find a purpose in the new social order of the world where his traditions, experiences, and background are obsolete.

The film's critique of the romantic idealization of duty is comparable to that in the earlier film All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque.

Race

Renoir briefly touches on the question of anti-Semitism through the character of Rosenthal, a son from a nouveau riche (wealthy, but not aristocratic) banking family who happens to be Jewish (an obvious parallel to the Rothschild banking family of France). It is thought [by whom?]that Renoir created this character to counter the rising anti-Jewish campaign enacted by Adolf Hitler's government in Nazi Germany. Further, Rosenthal is shown as a symbol of humanity across class lines: though he may be financially wealthy, he shares his food parcels with everyone so that he and his fellow prisoners are well fed—when compared with their German captors. Through the character of Rosenthal, Renoir rebuffs Jewish stereotypes.

War

Renoir seeks to refute the notion that war accomplishes anything, or that it can be used as a political tool to solve problems and create a better world. "It is a grand illusion", says Rosenthal, speaking of the belief that this is the war that will end war forever.

Grand Illusion is a war film without any depiction of battle. Instead, the prisoner of war camp setting is used as a space in which soldiers of many nations have a common experience. Renoir portrays war as a futile exercise. For instance, Elsa, the German widow, shows photos to Maréchal and Rosenthal of her husband and her brothers who were killed, respectively, at the battles of Verdun, Liège, Charleroi, and Tannenberg. Ironically, of these battles, some were among Germany's most decisive victories in World War I. Through this device, Renoir refutes the notion that one common man's bravery, honor, or duty can make an impact on a great event. This undermines the idealistic intention of Maréchal and Rosenthal to return to the front, so that by returning to the fight they can help end this war.

Soundtrack

The soundrack has many well known songs of the day from French, English and German cultures.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Grand Illusion (DVD). The Criterion Collection. 1999.
  2. ^ The exteriors of "Wintersborn" were filmed in Alsace, at the Haut Koenigsberg Castle Other exteriors were filmed at the artillery barracks at Colmar (built by Wilhelm II) and at Neuf-Brisach on the Upper Rhine.
  3. ^ youtube
  4. ^ Jeffery Alan Triggs. "The Legacy of Babel: Language in Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion". Retrieved 2007-01-26.
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