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'''La Grande Illusion''' is a 1937 film by renowned director Jean Renoir (1894-1979)—son of artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir—and is regarded by critics and film historians as one of the masterpieces of French cinema and is Renoir's most beloved film.¹ The screenplay was written by Renoir and Charles Spaak.
In the United States, the film was released as '''Grand Illusion.'''

Contents

Brief history of the film

Synopsis

Political and historical themes

Class

Race

War

Credits

Cast

Production credits

Trivia

References

See also

External links

Brief history of the film

''Grand Illusion'' was released in 1937 to much critical acclaim. Even as late as 1970, many lists of the top ten best films in cinematic history included the film.
In 1938, ''Grand Illusion'' was the first foreign language film nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the Academy Award for Best Picture (also known as the 'Oscar'). The film won the awards for Best Foreign Film at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards and the National Board of Review in 1938.
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.
For many years, the original nitrate negative was thought to have been destroyed 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, instead of being destroyed, had been shipped back to Berlin (probably due to the efforts of Dr. Frank Hansel) to be stored in the Reichsfilmarchiv vaults.¹ With 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 Oddly enough, the negative had been returned to France in the 1960s, but sat unidentified in storage in Toulouse Cinémathèque for over 30 years as no one thought the original negative survived.¹ When it was rediscovered in the early 1990s as the Cinémathèque's nitrate collection was slowly transferred to the French Film Archives at Bois d'Arcy, the original negative 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.

Synopsis

During the First World War, two French aviators Captain de Boeldieu (played by Pierre Fresnay) and 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 an aviator and German aristocrat, Captain von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim). Von Rauffenstein, upon returning to base, states that he has shot down a French plane and instructs one of his subordinates to find out if the aviators are officers, and if so, invite them to lunch before dispatching them to a prisoner of war camp. During this scene we learn that von Rauffenstein and de Boeldieu know each other through acquaintances—a depiction of the familiarity, if not solidarity, within the upper class (i.e. the aristocracy) across national boundaries.
De Boeldieu and Maréchal are then placed in a prisoner of war camp, where they meet and befriend several of their fellow countrymen. Soon after their arrival, they participate in an attempt by their comrades to dig a tunnel underneath the camp as a means to escape. However, just before the tunnel is completed, they are forced to switch camps, and because of the language barrier are unable to pass word of the tunnel to the incoming British prisoners.
During the course of the war, Boeldieu and Maréchal are placed in camp after 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. Wintersborn, it is alleged, is inescapable (oddly foreshadowing the real POW camp Colditz in WWII), but we soon learn that Boeldieu and Maréchal have a history of valiant escape attempts.
At Wintersborn, Boeldieu and Maréchal meet one of their fellow prisoners from an earlier camp, Rosenthal (Marcel Dalio), a wealthy Jew. The three together conspire their escape, coming across an idea by paying close attention to how the German guards respond to emergencies. Boeldieu concedes that their plan can only serve two, and suggests that Maréchal and Rosenthal escape, while he serves to draw the German guards' attention as they get away. After some commotion, the guards order an assembly of the prisoners in the fortress courtyard, and proceed to call the roll. When de Boeldieu's name is called he is not present in the assembly, and as they realize his absence, he makes his presence known high up in the fortress, drawing the German guards in pursuit. Maréchal and Rosenthal take the opportunity during the pursuit of de Boeldieu to lower themselves from a window by a home-made rope and flee.
In the poignant sequence that follows, 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. Nursed in his final moments by von Rauffenstein, de Boeldieu dies of his wounds expressing—in his last thoughts—a lament that their usefulness to society (as aristocrats) ends with this war, and that he has pity for von Rauffenstein who is left behind, alive, to find a purpose in this new, emerging social order.
The film continues with the plight of the fugitives Maréchal and Rosenthal as they journey across the German countryside seeking a route back to France. Rosenthal gets injured, slowing up the duo, and the two men 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 must eventually leave for Switzerland (from there to France and return to the war), although Maréchal promises to come back if he survives. They depart. As the film closes, a squadron of German soldiers on patrol sight the two fugitives crossing a snow-covered valley. The soldiers fire a few volleys and miss, but are soon ordered to let Maréchal and Rosenthal go without incident, as they have apparently crossed the invisible Swiss border in the snow-covered valley below.

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 an interview dating from the re-release of the film in the early 1960s:
: "[''Grand Illusion'' is] a story about human relationships. I am sure 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 are aristocrats: de Boëldieu (Fresnay) and von Rauffenstein (von Stroheim). 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 men 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.^[2]
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 . 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 . 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 calls the "charming legacy of the French Revolution."
Renoir contrasts the aristocrats with lower class characters such as Maréchal (Gabin), a mechanic from Paris, who is less cultured, and later in the film is unable to communicate adequately with Elsa (Parlo) in German, who likewise cannot speak French. 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.
Renoir's message is made clear when de Boëldieu, the French aristocrat, sacrifices himself by causing a distraction to allow Maréchal and Rosenthal, the common men, to escape. Von Rauffenstein is forced to shoot de Boëldieu (out of duty), 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 aristocratic notions of honor and duty are not shared by lower classes in Europe—the everyday men serving their countries thought of the war as a senseless political charade and became disillusioned .
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 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, that 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 Rosenthal, Renoir rebuffs anti-Semitic criticisms, asserting that Jewish stereotypes are meaningless.
A more enigmatic symbol of racial division is the African prisoner who appears in the second POW camp; he works alongside the other Allied captives and seems to be accepted by them, yet no one ever speaks to him even when he tries to make conversation.

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.
''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.
As one of many lower and working class men who had fought in World War I, Renoir sought a resolution to the world crisis before the European powers once again resorted to war. Regarding World War I as a brutal, immense waste of human life for dubious—almost ridiculous—reasons, he hoped for a solution that would avoid a repeat of the carnage and devastation of the First World War. The role of Maréchal may represent a chief component of the political platform put forth by the Front Populaire (an emerging bloc of left-wing political parties at the time this film was released) in France.

Credits

Cast

★ Jean Gabin ''as'' Lieutenant Maréchal, a French officer

★ Erich von Stroheim ''as'' Captain von Rauffenstein, a German officer

★ Dita Parlo ''as'' Elsa, a widowed German farm woman

★ Pierre Fresnay ''as'' Captain de Boeldieu, a French officer

★ Marcel Dalio ''as'' Lieutenant Rosenthal, a French officer

★ Julien Carette ''as'' Cartier, the showoff

★ Georges Péclet ''as'' An officer

★ Werner Florian ''as'' Sgt. Arthur

★ Jean Dasté ''as'' a teacher

★ Sylvain Itkine ''as'' Lieutenant Demolder

★ Gaston Modot ''as'' an engineer
Several members of the cast were not listed in the film's credits (as was common in early films) including:

★ Jacques Becker ''as'' an English officer

★ Albert Brouett ''as'' a prisoner

★ Claude Sainval

★ Carl Koch

★ Michel Salina

Production credits

★ Producer: Raymond Blondy

★ Director: Jean Renoir

★ Written by: Jean Renoir & Charles Spaak

★ Editor: Marguerite Renoir

★ Musical Composer: Joseph Kosma

★ Music Director: Emile Vuillermoz

★ Art Director: Eugene Lourie

★ Cinematographer: Christian Matras

Trivia

★ Jean Renoir was an aviator for the French Army during World War I, actor Jean Gabin (as Maréchal) wears Renoir's uniform in the film.

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

★ Orson Welles once said, "If I had to save only one film in the world, it would be Grand Illusion."

★ As the first movie depicting an escape from a prisoner of war camp, scenes in ''Grand Illusion'' have influenced other films in the genre, especially influencing the scenes of the digging of an escape tunnel in ''The Great Escape'' (1963). Because the tunnel scenes depicted in "The Great Escape" were based upon the actual events that took place in a German prisoner of war camp for captured Allied airmen (and based upon the book by British flier Paul Brickhill), it is possible that the tunnel scenes from "Grand Illusion" inspired the prisoners to plan and dig a tunnel using many of the same methods depicted in "Grand Illusion."

★ Likewise, the scene of the French prisoners singing ''La Marseillaise''—the French National Anthem—to enrage their German prison guards, inspired a similar show of patriotic resistance in the film ''Casablanca'' (1942).

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

★ The little girl who played 'Lotte' never saw the film, having died of the flu some weeks before it was released.

★ The title of the film (in French ''La Grande illusion'') comes from an essay called "The Great Illusion" by British economist Norman Angell, who argued that war is futile because of the common economic interests of different nations. The title of Renoir's film is really more accurately translated to "The Great Illusion".

References

1.
2. The Legacy of Babel: Language in Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion Jeffery Alan Triggs

See also

★ Cinema of France

★ List of French language films

External links

★

★ Roger Ebert review

★ Criterion Collection essay by Peter Cowie

★ Review of Criterion DVD of film

★ Complete film online at LikeTelevision