In 1937, Renoir filmed his most outstanding work "Disillusionment", which is also one of the most important works of French poetic realism. During the production of the film, fascism had already seized power in Spain, and the Second World War was imminent. The author poured into the film many thoughts about war that had been haunting his mind for a long time.
During the First World War, Renoir joined the French army and initially served as an infantry hunter in the Alps. After adjustment after the injury, he joined the C64 aviation squadron. Once the Codron plane he piloted was in danger, the famous Air Force pilot (later general) Sergeant Panshar helped him out and became his lifesaver. This experience had a profound impact on him. General Panchar has survived seven times, and his military career is quite legendary. Later, in an air battle, Renoir's plane was shot down over Germany and he was kept in a prisoner-of-war camp until the end of World War I. Based on Renoir's narrative, taking Panchar's experience as a clue, and combining Renoir's own personal experience, Charles Spike wrote a screenplay about war, patriotism, and interpersonal relationships. General Panchar is the prototype of Marechal. The original intention of the film is that war is contrary to human nature, but after people realize this truth in the pain of war, they should not imagine that a new war cannot happen again. The name of the film is literally translated as "great fantasy."
Needless to say, "Disillusionment" is an anti-war movie. The film shows many levels, the psychology of each character is very complicated, and each scene often has multiple meanings. While condemning the enthusiasm for war, the film praised those who fought for the motherland and were loyal to their friendship in battle. The film shows a lot of fantasies. It tells people that various fantasies in real society prevent them from seeing life soberly. The film also entrusts Renoir's own illusions. He hopes that when the next war occurs, people from different social classes and occupations will also be connected by an invisible bond. Renoir once said: "My theme is one of the goals I have always pursued since I started working in the film, that is, human unity." After the film was released, it caused a huge response. At the Venice International Film Festival controlled by the Mussolini regime, "Disillusionment" was considered "anti-Semitism" and was awarded for it; some countries were considered to be popular for placing Aryans above Jews; while Germany The film was banned for "pro-Semitism".
In "Disillusionment", Renoir deliberately expresses the relationship between people. He believes that there are many different factors that separate people into different groups: France and Germany at war; Aryans and Jews belonging to different races; nobles and poor people; different beliefs in Christianity and Judaism and the amount of possessions. The war is only a background in the film. The author's creative intention is to use a realistic method to express these interpersonal relationships and structure the film, which tells the disillusionment of fantasy.
Both Bovaldi and Laufenstein were nobles, they shared many lifestyles and common languages belonging to the same class. It was the war that made them opposing parties and one prisoner of the other. The common class attributes once made them appreciate each other and respect each other, and when they did not appear in their personal identities but represented their respective motherland, their relationship became tragic.
Marechal and Bovardi originally lived different lives. War and patriotism made them comrades-in-arms and difficult friends, making them fight for the same goal and escape from prison. In order to allow the friends in difficulty to return to the motherland, Bovardi sacrificed his life to save his comrades. There was no aura of nobility on his head, only the feelings of comrades-in-arms and compatriots. Marechal has never been accustomed to the behavior of this noble officer, but he did not lose dignity and righteousness in front of the enemy, and his demeanor and demeanor, who regarded the motherland as the supreme interest, really made this comrade-in-arms admire him sincerely.
Marechal hated Rosenthal, the wealthy Jewish banker, but they slept in the same chase in the prison camp, shared food, and planned an escape together. After escaping from the prison camp, when Rosenthalwei couldn't make his way, Marechal once wanted to get rid of this burden. However, the common destiny urged Marechal to return to help Rosenthal until he returned to the motherland without separation. The friendship of compatriots transcends the boundaries of social status and race.
In the farmhouse of Elsa, a German farmer, Marechal and Rosenthal found a place to survive and recover from their wounds. It was the war that caused Elsa, an ordinary woman, to lose her husband and brother and end up lonely and miserable. Her hatred of war made her sympathize with the two fugitives who had left their hometown because of the war. Compassion for the same disease makes Elsa and Marechal, who are of different nationalities, each representing the belligerent country and belong to the same class, sympathize with each other, console each other, and even develop love. The war is not over yet, Marechal should fulfill his civic duties and military responsibilities, and return to the motherland with his compatriots. Marechal expressed Renoir's original intention: "I hope this cursable war is the last war!"
"Disillusionment" is an invisible war movie. All the war scenes have been simplified into the background and foil. What is presented on the screen is the life scene of the prisoner camp on the edge of the war. Renoir accurately grasped the external image and psychological characteristics of the main characters. For the prisoners of war, they temporarily left the battlefield, thinking and doing is absconding and escape. Freedom and light attracted them, so they showed an optimistic attitude. As for the young Germans who are on duty and training in the captive camp, what awaits them is about to go to the battlefield, and their future and future are unknown. As German soldiers who dominated the fate of prisoners of war, their expressions were gloomy and their hearts depressed. Laufenstein, successfully played by Eric von Strauchen, has an extremely complicated character. He first treated Bovardi with courtesy, and then regarded him as a friend; when he raised his gun and shot, he showed a fierce and cruel face; when the opponent died in his hands, he put on a sad and dazed look of dead rabbit and fox. The face of a fascist party was exposed. Another example is Elsa, a German peasant woman. She did not panic when she saw two French fugitives; she was calm and calm when dealing with German soldiers; she was clean and swift when doing housework; when her lonely heart was melted by tenderness, the tender feelings of the young woman were so Beautiful and moving. These characters all interpret the appeal of realism.
The realistic environment and atmosphere created by the film left a deep impression on people. Although there is no rain of bullets in the prison camp, the German guards' remarks and body searches on the prisoners of war make people feel that the war has trampled on human dignity. When describing the escape of Marechal and Rosenthal, the muddy mountain roads, the surprisingly cold weather, the clothes soaked in cold mud, hunger and cold made people feel the cruelty of war from the side. In addition, the joking scenes of the prisoners in costumes in the all-shop rooms, the unison of the flutes in the huge camp of prisoners of war, and the scenes where everyone sings "The Boat" are quite spectacular and interesting. It not only reflects the boring and depressed atmosphere in the prisoner of war camp, but also adds some romantic sentiment to the film. The romantic feelings of Marechal and Elsa add a poetic touch to the film.
In the 1930s, the poetic realist film school occupied the dominant position in French cinema, which was another glorious period of French cinema. The so-called "poetic realism" is the combination of critical realism and poetry. Although the number of these films is not large, they sweep away the dullness of the French film scene at that time. Poetic realism does not have a systematic theoretical program, and mainly follows the humanitarian principle in the pursuit of aesthetics. Famous directors who have contributed to this genre include Rene Claire, Jean Vigo, Jean Renoir, Marcel Carne and Jacques Fedel, the most prominent of which is Jean Renoir.
Jean Renoir (1894 ~ 1979) was born in Paris, the second son of the famous French impressionist painter Auguste Reano. As a descendant of French intellectuals, he captured the main social contradictions of his time with his artistic sensitivity, and became an acclaimer and propagandist of the progressive forces of society. He once said: "The only thing I can bring to this cruel and difficult world is my own love." Some of his films, especially "The Bitch" (1931 ), "Tony" (1934), "Mr. Lange's Crime" (1935) and other works, their creation focuses on French social life, and they are all saturated with the attention and love of ordinary people. Even when describing their crimes due to hard life, the audience can see the power of laborers in these little people.
Renoir praises the beauty of the world. He is good at giving spirituality to nature and placing people in the universe. Many of his films are considered impressionist works. Such as his film "Nana" (1926) based on Zola's novel of the same name. Every scene in this film is like a memory, Manet’s riverbed, Degas’s female dancer, and old Renoir’s portraits of women. The beautiful lens, the high artistic interest, and the excellent technique make people feel that his films are more like paintings. But when needed, he will become a social agitator, an artist who openly stands on the side of progressive forces.
In the mid-1930s, when fascists attempted to seize power in France, the communists and socialists signed a unified action pact and established the People’s Front. Renoir filmed a propaganda and agitation film "Life belongs to us" to explain the purpose of the People's Front and call on the people to support the Communists and Socialists. Renoir sympathized with the workers and supported their actions. He combined news films about the brutal suppression of unemployed workers' demonstrations with scenes showing the strength and unity of the proletariat to illustrate who France should belong to. He also edited the documentary footage showing Lenin and the parade on Red Square together with the documentary footage of a fascist review held in Italy to show that the events in France are transnational in nature. This semi-documentary feature film has high artistic value. This style is not only a typical Renoir style, but also laid the foundation for the success of "Disillusionment." In 1936, funded by the union, he filmed the propaganda and agitation film "Life Belongs to Us". The film called for "all power to the Soviets" and ended with the melody of the Internationale, which was unique in Western society at the time. On the eve of World War II, the class struggle in European society was complicated, and the fascist reactionary forces became more and more rampant. Renoir fell into pessimism due to pain and anger. In the film of the same name adapted from Zola's novel "A Beast in a Crest", he expresses a fatalistic and hopeless sentiment towards the fate of man. "The Rules of the Game" filmed in 1939 is Renoir's most refined and personally artistic film, and it is also his last film exposing the cruel and alienated capitalist society. This film is considered by Sadur It is Renoir's "most outstanding work, but also the best work in pre-war French films."
After the occupation of France, Renoir was invited to the United States in 1941. In Hollywood, he made six films including "My Country and My People" (1943), "The Southerner" (1945), and "The Maid's Diary" (1946). Both show a certain tendency to progress, but they have obviously lost Renoir's edge in the past, and his art has not reached the level of his 1930s. After World War II, Renoir passed through India when he returned to China and filmed a very poetic and humane film "River", which revealed his thoughts on the fate of the East and the West. After returning to France, he filmed "French Cancan Dance" (1955), depicting the people's feelings about life with the technique of impressionist painting. Renoir made more than 40 films in his life. For his outstanding artistic achievements, he was awarded the fourth class of the French Legion of Honor in 1970 and the third class of French Art and Literature in 1976.
The success of "Disillusionment" is inseparable from Jean Gaben (1896 ~ 1976) who played Marechal. Gabon has been on the screen for 50 years and has shaped many unforgettable screen images in the history of film. He starred in a series of films such as the poetic realist masterpieces "Fog Pier" and "Dawn in the Sky". Those laborers and small people in the lower society who directly touched the social reality left a deep impression. "Myth" said. His contribution to French poetic realism films cannot be ignored.
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