Grand Illusion (La Grande Illusion, 1937)

Jean Renoir

France

114 min, black and white, French (English subtitles)

Review © 2004 Branislav L. Slantchev

Don't shoot. They are in Switzerland.

The 1937 story is set in the first year of the Great War. The French Lt. Marechal (Jean Gabin) and Capt. de Boieldieu (Pierre Fresnay) are captured by the Germans when their plane is shot down by Capt. von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim). They are sent to a camp for officer prisoners of war where they spend their time drinking wine, gorging on sardines, and plotting their escape through a tunnel they dig at night. They are then sent to a forbidding castle deep in Germany, where the commandant is von Rauffenstein who has been disabled by a downing of his plane. Again they plot their escape. The last third of the film details Marechal and fellow prisoner Rosenthal (Marcel Dalio) 200 km trek through Germany toward the safety of Switzerland, on which they stumble across the German farm woman Elsa (Dita Parlo) whose husband and brothers have been killed in the war.

Jean Gabin and Pierre Fresnay	Fresnay converses with von Stroheim

The film is rightly regarded as one of the masterpieces of world cinema. Its story, acting, cinematography, and mis-en-scene are nearly perfect.

What is the "grand illusion"? Many people have ventured their guesses, but perhaps Peter Cowie, who thinks it is "rather gratuitous," is closest on the mark. Still, I cannot resist offering my own guess. Criterion's supplement claims the title was inspired by the liberal 1910 book by Norman Angell who claimed that trade, markets, and economic prosperity had rendered war obsolete. While most see Renoir affirming his pacifism, I think his choice of title reflects his dry wit and ironic view of the world: the grand illusion is that war can be eradicated.

Prisoner life in the officer camp	Jean Gabin is Lt. Marechal

The film mercilessly dispels the notion that war arises out of human hatred. It goes further by saying that the ordinary people who fight it will do so without being particularly motivated except by their sense of duty. Nobody acts out: the Germans who allow their prisoners of war to enjoy better food and more civilization than they do, the French who invite the Germans to their performance even though the news has just broke that the German army has made an important advance; even the killing of prisoners is done without rancor and with much regret; the German woman who has lost all men in her family to the war sees no reason to mistreat the enemy soldiers. The only violence that flares up is when the Russian prisoners discover that their compatriots have send them books instead of vodka. Most tellingly, Marechal escapes to go back to the front so he can fight to finish the war... to go back to his new-found German love!

Tunnel digging is hazardous	Dangerous impersonation at a stag party

If there is any illusion in the film, it is the war itself. Renoir's take is quite unusual for a war film: there's no war whatsoever, no combat, no action. People go about their daily lives, coping with the impact of war, but war just forms a background: it is always there and yet civilized life goes on. This is perhaps offensive, after all the film does offer a somewhat romanticized view of the horror that the Great War was. Maybe officers socialized and were treated well (they generally were) but if one is looking for an indictment of war, then Renoir does not offer one.

It's not the flutes, it's the marching	Fraternization

We should excuse the auteur, especially if he did not aim to portray war. It seems to me that Renoir's goal was rather different. He wanted to look at the interactions between people inhabiting different strata of their societies. Human relationships form the core of the film and the illusion of war simply brings people together in ways that they would never have been forced otherwise. The class tensions between the aristocrat De Boieldieu and the mechanic Marechal, the awkwardness between the poor Marechal and the rich Jew Rosenthal, or the natural affinity between the career officers, the French Boieldieu and the German Rauffenstein, or between the German farm woman Elsa and the enemy Marechal.

Erich von Stroheim is flamboyant	The utterly likeable Fresnay

In the end, all the characters reveal themselves as truly likeable people. Some win our affections instantaneously (Marechal), others we have to learn to appreciate (De Boieldieu), and others simply make us stand in attention (Rauffenstein, von Stroheim, by the way, has such a screen presence that he steals every scene he's in). Truly superb performances all around make the film a witty and enjoyable treat.

Marechal and Rosenthal to Switzerland	Else discovers the French in the barn

Renoir's visuals match the tone of the story perfectly. The film is beautifully composed, with a light lyrical touch to underscore the subtle wit of the narrative. Thank god Renoir did not deliver a heavy-handed "war is hell" sermon that passes for profundity these days. The humor has lost none of its potency in the nearly seven decades since it was conceived.

An unlikely Christmas	Don't shoot. They are in Switzerland.

The Criterion DVD is outstanding, the restoration is nothing short of amazing. Of course, we have been spoiled with the recent stunning release of Metropolis, but the restoration demo shows just how much we would have missed if we had seen the previous LD print. The French mono track is very crisp, and the optional English subtitles are easy to read. The extras include commentary by film historian Peter Cowie, cast bios, a trailer, and some notes on the film. This is certainly the way to own this film, and the film is certainly one to own. Repeated viewings only increase the pleasure by revealing previously neglected nuance.

July 29, 2004