Film Review
Cocagne may have been one of Fernandel's later films, but it has strong
echoes of his earlier work, most visibly his collaborations with director
Marcel Pagnol in the 1930s and '40s - films like
Regain (1937) and
Le
Schpountz (1938). The setting is the town of Arles and region
of Camargue - not too far from Pagnol's own Provence near Marseille - and
the characters have a distinctly Pagnol-like meridional ring to them (the
casting of Andrex and Rellys in supporting roles can only add to this impression).
With so much of the film shot on location (the exterior scenes in historic
Arles are especially striking),
Cocagne has a raw realist feel to
it, and this sets it apart from most other films that Fernandel put his name
to around this time.
The film was directed (competently, but with no real flair) by Maurice Cloche,
who had tended to rest on his laurels after his 1947 box office hit
Monsieur Vincent, which
received an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Cloche's output was
as diverse as it was prolific, including period melodramas such as
Le Petit chose (1938), the
sci-fi oddity
L'Invité
de la onzième heure (1945) and formulaic spy thriller
Coplan,
agent secret FX 18 (1964). Apart from
Monsieur Vincent,
which owed most of its success to a remarkable central performance from Pierre
Fresnay, Cloche left us very little to remember him by.
Cocagne
is one of his more engaging films, but it struggles to be much more than
a belated homage to Pagnol's earlier offerings.
A few moments of genuine poignancy are somewhat impaired by a heavy-handed
script, which is content merely to turn the handle on a fairly glib fable
rather than offer something more profound and original. A credible
performance from Fernandel (one of his best - it almost rates alongside his
work on
La Vache et
le prisonnier) makes up for the tired narrative, helped by equally
strong contributions from Dora Doll and Rellys, two formidable acting talents
that have sadly slipped from our collective consciousness. Even at
this late stage in his career, Fernandel was still a massive box office draw
- implausibly, the film managed to attract an audience of 1.8 million in
France.
Cocagne is not a great film, but its romantic portrayal
of Provence - a picturesque haven of tranquillity - lends it an irresistible
charm.
© James Travers 2016
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Next Maurice Cloche film:
Le Vicomte règle ses comptes (1967)
Film Synopsis
A refuse truck driver, Marc-Antoine is content with his modest life in Arles
with his wife Mélanie and their two teenage children. When a
valuable painting is stolen from his friend Amédée, the owner
of a café, Marc-Antoine suddenly finds he has an unexpected talent
for painting. He becomes a local celebrity and, encouraged by Hélène,
a café waitress, he is soon convinced that he is a great artist.
On the spur of the moment, he turns his back on his job and his family and
moves to Camargue, to live with his friend Septime, who gives him the money
to buy painting materials. Marc-Antoine soon becomes disillusioned
with his new life and realises that he would rather be back in Arles, surrounded
by the people who are dear to him...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.