Film Review
Champions juniors was one of just
three films directed by Pierre Blondy, the others being a feature,
Fils de France (1946), and another
short,
Un duel à mort.
Blondy started his career as an actor, appearing in an
uncredited role in Jean Renoir's
La Grande illusion (1937),
before becoming an assistant director for such distinguished filmmakers
as Marcel Carné (
Les Enfants du paradis) and
René Clair (
Le Silence est d'or). He
scripted the film with Marcel Camus, who would later make his mark as a
director with his first films,
Mort
en fraude (1956) and
Orfeu Negro (1959).
Champions juniors is an
indefinable oddity that looks like a cross-between Truffaut's
Les 400 coups and a promotional
film for Renault, at one of whose factories most of the film was
shot. Through the eyes of a little boy rebelling against his
authoritarian father - Louis de Funès many years before he
became a comic icon - we see factory workers toiling contentedly in a
modern factory. The most impressive part is an expressionistic
dream sequence which might well have been filmed by Fritz Lang.
It's hard to know who the film was aimed at, or even what its purpose
was. It's a cutely weird film that would long have passed into
obscurity were it not for de Funès's mischievous presence
at the top and tail of the film.
© James Travers 2015
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Every little boy is obsessed with motor cars but not every little boy is
fortunate enough to have a kindly godfather who works at a car factory.
What would such a boy do after being on the receiving end of his father's
bad temper? He would of course visit his godfather and, without him
noticing, slip into the factory to marvel at all the wonders inside.
To watch cars being assembled, the products of metal and sweat, is enough
to transport such a little boy and fire his imagination, taking him to the
realm of his wildest fantasies...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.