Poil de carotte (1925)

Poil de carotte is a French film first released in 1925, directed by Julien Duvivier.  The film is based on a novel by Jules Renard and stars Henry Krauss, Charlotte Barbier-Krauss, André Heuzé, Fabien Haziza and Renée Jean.  Our overall rating for this film is: excellent.


Ten-year-old François, nick-named Poil de Carotte (carrot-top) on account of his red hair, is blighted with the most miserable life imaginable.  Constantly bullied by his tyrannical mother, ignored by his father, and teased by his older brother and sister, poor François imagines that he is the unhappiest person in the world.  When his brother Félix steals some money from his parents so that he can amuse himself with a Parisian cabaret singer, who is the obvious culprit?  Poil de Carotte!  Whenever he sees a glimpse of happiness – playing with a little girl on a neighbouring farm or going hunting with his father – his mother intervenes and gives him chores to do.   In the end, the ill-treatment that is meted out to him daily becomes unbearable and François decides to end his life.  All he needs is a rope, a beam, and it’s done.  Who will miss wretched Poil de Carotte..?

The 1925 version of Poil de carotte was Julien Duvivier’s first notable success.  Although less well-known and far less regarded than his subsequent sound films of the 1930s and ’40s, this, the finest of Duvivier’s silent films, reveals a young filmmaker of immense talent and is a work of acute poetry and poignancy.  The darker aspects that we see in the director’s later films – cruelty, injustice, rejection – are evident in this early work, and these give it a distinct quality that we now interpret as an early example of poetic realism.

When it was released, the film was criticised for its substantial departures from the book (written by Jules Renard) on which it was based.  The subplot involving Félix, the hero’s older brother, was considered a distraction from the main thrust of the narrative, which, in the novel, was concerned only with François’s unremitting ill-treatment at the hands of his family.  It is questionable whether this is a fair criticism, since it can be argued that Duvivier’s departures from Renard’s novel add substance to the characters and heighten the realism of François’s experiences.

It is fair to say that this is a far less polished piece than Duvivier’s subsequent films, marred by some stylistic flourishes which serve merely to distract the spectator.  Whilst some of the expressionistic touches (unusual camera angles, stylised lighting and use of multiple exposures) work well, to convey what is in the mind of the protagonists, others (such as the revolving mirror) merely get in the way.  Far more impressive is the stunning location photography, which brings a striking realism and pathos to some parts of the film.  Particularly memorable are those sequences in which the hero (beautifully portrayed by André Heuzé, his only film appearance) gives free reign to his child-like emotions.

Julien Duvivier was particularly fond of this film and decided to remake it seven years later.  This sound version, released in 1932, is generally considered superior to the silent version, and features the legendary stage and film actor Harry Baur as Monsieur Lepic, with the part of Poil de Carotte played by 11-year-old Robert Lynen.  This remake, whilst technically the better film, doesn’t quite have the raw naturalism and intense lyrical quality of the silent version.  What both of these films offer is a truly heart-rending portrayal of the fragility and anguish of childhood.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009


By 1925, Julien Duvivier had been directing films at the rate of two per year for five years, so you could say that by the time he came to shoot this, his eleventh, he knew what he was doing.  As an example of sheer craftsmanship, Poil de Carotte is an object lesson, replete with stunning visuals and optical effects that leave many of his contemporaries dead in the water.  The novel by Jules Renard was highly regarded in France and there were those unhappy with what they saw as Duvivier tampering with a much-loved story.  Yet for every dissenting voice, there were surely twenty who applauded such consummate filmmaking. 

Duvivier uses title cards sparingly, preferring to rely on his mastery of the camera to tell his story.  As an example, the title card used to introduce Red-Top’s mother ’Nasty Gossip’ tells us all we need to know.  Charlotte Barbier-Krauss personifies evil as the cruel, heartless bully of a mother, whilst André Heuzé is effective as the eponymous Red-Top.  Clearly the novel was close to Duvivier’s heart because, seven years later, he made a sound version with Harry Baur, Robert Lynen and Catherine Fonteney. It’s a close call and the jury is still out on which is the finer.

© Leon Nock (London, England) 2010 

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