Jean Grémillon
Jean Grémillon (3 October 1901 – 25 November 1959)[1] was a French film director. After directing a number of documentaries during the 1920s, many now lost, he had his first substantial success with the dramatic feature Maldone in 1928. Over the next quarter-century, he directed twenty more feature films, of which he is best known for five made between 1937 and 1944: Gueule d'amour (1937), L'Étrange M. Victor (1938), Remorques (1941), Lumière d'été (1943), and Le Ciel est à vous (1944), all but the first starring Madeleine Renaud.
Grémillon rejected what he referred to as "mechanical naturalism" in favor of "the discovery of that subtlety which the human eye does not perceive directly but which must be shown by establishing the harmonies, the unknown relations, between objects and beings; it is a vivifying, inexhaustible source of images that strike our imaginations and enchant our hearts."
Selected films directed by Jean Grémillon
- Maldone (Misdeal, silent, 1928)
- Gardiens de phare (The Lighthouse Keepers, silent, 1929)
- La Petite Lise (Little Lise, 1930)
- Daïnah la métisse (1931)
- Le Petit Babouin (1932)
- Pour un sou d'amour (For One Cent's Worth of Love, 1932)
- Gonzague (aka L'Accordeur, 1933)
- La Dolorosa (Our Lady of Sorrows. 1934)
- Valse royale (1935)
- Pattes de mouches (1936)
- L'Étrange Monsieur Victor (Strange M. Victor, 1937)
- ¡Centinela, alerta! (1937)
- Gueule d'amour (Lady Killer, 1937)
- Remorques (Stormy Waters, 1941)
- Lumière d'été (Summer Light, 1943)
- Le Ciel est à vous (The Woman Who Dared, 1944)
- Le 6 juin à l'aube (documentary, 1946)
- Les Charmes de l'existence (The Charms of Life, 1949)
- Pattes blanches (White Paws, 1949)
- L'Étrange Madame X (The Strange Madame X, 1951)
- L'Amour d'une femme (The Love of a Woman, 1954)
References
Published
- Sellier, Geneviève (1989). Jean Grémillon: Le cinéma est à vous. Paris: Méridiens Klincksieck. (Correct date of birth: p. 13.)
Online
- Enchanted Realism: The Films of Jean Grémillon program guide to Facets Multimedia mini-retrospective ("Mechanical naturalism...the discovery.")
Notes
- ^ Note that, despite attempts at correction, the IMDb entry on the director lists his date of birth erroneously as 4 March 1898. The correct date is given in his standard biography, by Geneviève Sellier, and confirmed by other leading sources including Katz's Film Encyclopedia and Wakeman's World Film Directors.
External links
- Jean Grémillon filmography, bibliography of works on the director, brief essay by critic Dudley Andrew; part of the Film Reference website
- Rediscovering the Films of Jean Grémillon program for mini-retrospective with movie descriptions; part of the Harvard Film Archive website
- "Resurrection of a Martyr" article by Chris Fujiwara, Boston Phoenix, November 22–29, 2001
- Maldone, J. Grémillon - The Ballroom Dance Scene 1928 on YouTube
