La grande illusion (1937)

Director:

Jean Renoir

Writers:

Charles Spaak (scenario and dialogue) &
Jean Renoir (scenario and dialogue)

Release Date:

12 September 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

During 1st WW, two French officers are captured. Captain De Boeldieu is an aristocrat while Lieutenant Marechal was a mechanic in civilian life...

Plot Keywords:

Pow | Captain | French | Escape | Lieutenant

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Jean Gabin	...	Lt. Maréchal
Dita Parlo	...	Elsa (farm woman)
Pierre Fresnay	...	Capt. de Boeldieu
Erich von Stroheim	...	Capt. von Rauffenstein (as Eric von Stroheim)
Julien Carette	...	Cartier, l'acteur (as Carette)
Georges Péclet	...	Le serrurier (as Peclet)
Werner Florian	...	Sgt. Arthur
Jean Dasté	...	The teacher (as Daste)
Sylvain Itkine	...	Lt. Demolder (as Itkine)
Gaston Modot	...	The engineer (as Modot)
Marcel Dalio	...	Lt. Rosenthal (as Dalio)

Also Known As:

Grand Illusion (Australia) (video box title) (International: English title) (informal title)
The Grand Illusion (USA)
A Grande Ilusão (Brazil) (Portugal) [pt]
A nagy ábránd (Hungary) [hu]
Die große Illusion (Austria) [de]
Ha-Ashlaya Ha-Gdola (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
I megali himaira (Greece) (reissue title) [el]
La gran ilusión (Spain) (original subtitled version) [es]
La grande illusione (Italy) [it]
Meta tin mahi (Greece) [el]
Suuri illusioni (Finland) [fi]
Suuri illuusio (Finland) (reissue title) [fi]
Towarzysze broni (Poland) [pl]

Runtime:

114 min | 94 min (1937 release) | Germany:107 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | German | English | Russian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1942) | Finland:K-16 (1937) | Finland:K-8 (1959) | Malaysia:U | Norway:12 (1959) | Norway:16 (1937) | Germany:12 (f) (1948) | Portugal:M/6 | Australia:G | Germany:(Banned) (1937-1945) | Italy:(Banned) (1938-1945) | South Korea:12 | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated | UK:U (video rating) | UK:A (original rating) (cut)

Filming Locations:

Caserne de Colmar, Colmar, Haut-Rhin, France

Company:

Réalisation d'art cinématographique (RAC)

Trivia:

First foreign language film - and still one of only a handful - to be nominated for Oscar as Best Picture.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Elsa's rural farmhouse in the mountains has electric lighting in the 1910s.

Quotes:

Capt. von Rauffenstein: May the earth lie lightly upon our valiant enemy.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in D-I-M, Deus in Machina (2007)

Soundtrack:

La Marseillaise

"Good company" is harder to make than "good war"

From Jean Renoir's autobiography, My Life and My Films (1974):

"If a French farmer should find himself dining at the same table as a French financier, those two Frenchmen would have nothing to say to each other, each being unconcerned with the other's interests. But if a French farmer meets a Chinese farmer they will find any amount to talk about. This theme of the bringing together of men through their callings and common interests has haunted me all my life and does so still. It is the theme of 'La Grande Illusion' and it is present, more or less, in all my works."

In a sense, 'La Grande Illusion' is a counterpoint in an argument of stories: in one corner, Jean Renoir & friends singing about humor and good cheer; in the other, a handful of Germans demanding bigotry and murderous pride.

My opinion of the movie is quite high, but I think, from having read that book and a few others, that the real accomplishments in 'Illusion,' artistic and thematic, come directly from Renoir's deep affection of people and our loves.

To live your life with love and humor takes thoughtful delicacy. It's much easier to close your heart, fence yourself in, and never have a true friend in your life: and such closed-hearted people are inevitably the ones who coolly turn the political screws until the world bursts into famine and war.

It was too much to think that 'La Grande Illusion' would prevent the then coming war, as Renoir hoped. But to look at the story again, as a lyrical anti-fascist statement and a call to weigh friendship and good company over nationalism (of any sort), that I think is where the story gets really good.

The modern era continues to give us a real choice. We can kill, without effort, to subdue the stranger. Or we can join the stranger for a meal and a conversation, and become friends. Which of these is the true vision of the world's "leaders"? Cold hearts, cold future.

Something to think about as you watch the movie.