Film Review
Nearing the end of his film-making career, Jean Renoir returned to the subject of his
most famous film,
La Grande
illusion, a powerful study of male conflict and camaraderie, centred around a
POW prison break-out during World War I. Based on a novel by Jacques Perret,
Le
Caporal épinglé is concerned with a similar situation during the Second
World War and is the closest that Renoir ever came to making a sequel to one of his films.
Although the setting
and the characters of
Le Caporal épinglé and
La Grande illusion
are virtually identical, there are some striking differences. The social and
racial differences which divide men, so evident in
La Grand illusion, have all
but disappeared by the 1940s, and perhaps the things which most separate men are their
philosophy on life and their cultural pretensions. In its way,
Le Caporal épinglé
is every bit as illuminating as
La Grande illusion, both films illustrating
perfectly Renoir's humanity and his profound understanding of human nature. Viewed
together, they show - perhaps more clearly than any other pair of films - how much things
have changed between the two world wars. The prescience shown in
La Grand illusion
is more than borne out by what we see in Le Caporal épinglé.
Despite favourable box
office receipts,
Le Caporal épinglé met with very mixed criticism
when it was released in 1962. There was almost universal praise for the fresh acting
talent which the film revealed (in the form of Jean-Pierre Cassel, Claude Brasseur and
Claude Rich) but also a fair amount of antipathy towards the director, whom many judged
to be way past his best. Certainly,
Le Caporal épinglé
does not have the genius and legendary character of
La Grande illusion, but, a
more modest and less stylised work, it does stand up well in comparison with Renoir's
lesser films. Where the film is funny, it is hilariously funny; where it is moving,
it is devastatingly so. Renoir's capacity for drawing every inch of humanity
out of each scene (by enabling his actors to give their best) is evident throughout this
film. If the film has a fault it is Joseph Kosma's overly intrusive music which
takes away far more than it appears to add.
One of the most remarkable
aspects of this film is Renoir's decision not to cast an established actor in the principal
or supporting roles. The director initially considered Daniel Gélin for the
role of the corporal, then Robert Lamoureux and even Jean Gabin, before settling on Jean-Pierre
Cassel (his first major role). Renoir's capacity for spotting talent can be seen
just by reading the film's cast list: Claude Brasseur, Claude Rich, Jean Carmet, Mario
David and Philippe Castelli - all virtually unknown at the time, but all destined for
prominent acting careers. The film's raw acting talent goes some way towards explaining
its striking sense of freshness and modernity, allowing it to bear a favourable comparison
with the films of the New Wave directors of the time.
After
Le Caporal épinglé
, Jean Renoir had a number of ideas for further films, but no film producer was willing
to offer him financial backing and so these had to be abandoned. Ironically,
at the time when Renoir was being confirmed as one of the most important figures in film
history, the commercial reality prevented him from making any further films for the cinema.
His final film (
Le Petit théâtre de Jean Renoir) was made for French
television in 1969, an ignominious end to an extraordinary filmmaking career.
© James Travers 2003
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Jean Renoir film:
Le Petit théâtre de Jean Renoir (1970)
Film Synopsis
June, 1940. In a German prisoner-of-war camp in North-East France, three soldiers
are united by their desire to escape and return to their ordinary civilian lives.
They are a middle-class corporal, a myopic intellectual, Ballochet, and an ordinary working
class man nicknamed Pater. After their first attempt fails, thanks to Ballochet
losing his spectacles, the corporal and Pater try again - and again. Although the
corporal comes close to finding his freedom, his good luck always runs out at the last
moment. Ultimately, the three soldiers find themselves in a German disciplinary
camp, but their resolve to escape remains as strong as ever.
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.