Jean de la Lune (1931)
Directed by Jean Choux

Film Review

Director Jean Choux had his first notable success with this riveting adaptation of Marcel Achard's play Jean de la Lune, which had been brought to the Parsian stage in 1929 by Louis Jouvet.  Choux's direction can hardly be described as inspired and focussed - his approach is more theatrical than cinematic and an overlong Moulin Rouge-style dance sequence disrupts the flow of the narrative around the film's mid-point for no good reason.   Fortunately, the performances from the three impeccable leads more than make up for this.  Michel Simon is the only cast member of the original stage production to reprise his role in the film (that of the unwelcome brother-in-law Clo-Clo).  The lead roles went to René Lefèvre and Madeleine Renaud, two of the most popular actors of the French screen at the time.

The success of Lefèvre and Renaud in the early days of the talkies can be largely attributed to the ordinariness of their personas.  They were not natural film stars but likeable individuals whom the man or woman in the street could readily identify with.  They were also immensely talented actors who eschewed the theatrical style of acting that was in vogue at the time for a much more underplayed, naturalistic approach.  Their performances in Jean de la Lune are surprisingly modern for a French film of this period and more than do justice to Marcel Achard's play, a frank commentary on modern day life.  Perhaps through the influence of his co-stars, Michel Simon turns in an unusually restrained performance.  His scenes with Lefevre have a rare gentleness and intimacy - something which the actors would repeat in a later film, Les Musiciens du ciel (1940).  It is worth noting that Jean-Pierre Aumont, another big name in French cinema of the 1930s and beyond, makes his screen debut in a small role towards the end of the film.  Achard later remade Jean de la Lune in 1949 with another remarkable triumvirate of actors: Danielle Darrieux, Claude Dauphin and François Périer.

Film Synopsis

Jeff is a poet and dreamer, nicknamed 'Jean de la lune' because of his child-like innocence.  He is madly in love with Marceline and marries her, completely unaware of her wayward nature which compels her to chase after any man that catches her eye.  Marceline's latest lover urges her to leave her husband and start a new life with him.  As she flees with her lover, Marceline begins to have second thoughts...