La Grande Illusion (1937) Director: Jean Renoir
“Frontiers are an invention of men. Nature doesn’t give a hoot.”
★★★★★
Released at just the moment Europe was teetering on the edge of another world war, Le Grande Illusion is a classic World War I prison film about the nature of camaraderie and friendship across enemy lines. In the film, we follow French officers who are captured and imprisoned in a German castle. In some editions of Le Grande Illusion, director Jean Renoir appears at the outset of the film to deliver an explanation of the movie, which is intended to reflect certain people and events he encountered during his own experiences in World War I (he served in the French cavalry and as a pilot after suffering bullet wound in his leg before he started making movies).
Le Grande Illusion tells the story of two French pilots who are captured as German war prisoners. In the first part of the film, we encounter a colorful group of German and French soldiers in a prison camp, and the theme of civility during times of war is explored as the head of the German camp, Captain von Rauffenstein (brilliantly played by the famous director, Erich von Stroheim who dons a monacle in the film) is bent on courteously treating his senior ranking French officials. Both sides lament the coming decline of the European aristocracy. This notion of mutual respect from both sides of the war can be traced to classical literary heroes like Achilles and Hector in Homer’s Iliad. Some might argued that time-honored tradition died somewhere in the trenches of World War I. At any rate, the imprisoned French soldiers devise various plots to escape or at least badger the German soldiers, such as with obnoxious bouts of noise and outbreaks of singing. From afar, the French soldiers watch eagerly as French forces attempt to reclaim German occupied territory during the war. Eventually, the two French officers of the troupe –Lieutenant Maréchal (Jean Gabin) and Lieutenant Rosenthal (Marcel Dalio) are moved to a secluded mountain fortress which has been converted into a prison camp, and with a leading distraction, they manage to escape from the castle on foot across the German countryside. These sprawling bucolic sequences are some of the most extraordinary in the whole film. Soon they come upon a German farm girl and they sleep in her barn (her husband died in the war). Indeed, the strongest class connections in the film exist among the working people. Whereas Captain von Rauffenstein was obliged to shoot the escaping prisoners out of a sense of duty, this rural farm girl has no obligation except to the her fellow humans –she hides the French fugitives in her house from the German army. Of course, there is a budding romance here, but the two Frenchmen know they must get out of Germany. Again, they flee on foot and eventually come upon the border with Switzerland. As they trudge through the snow they are shot at by a German soldier, who is stopped by his superior officer who announces that the men are now in Switzerland. The film closes as they trudge through the snow on their way to freedom in Switzerland. But are they truly free? Or will they simply be returned to the front to fight for France again?
Erich Von Stroheim (who liked to portray himself in the visage of a German Count in Hollywood, though he most certainly never actually was a Count) had trouble reading his German lines in this classic French film. He had to practice his German since he was not at all fluent. In many ways, Erich von Stroheim is the star of the film, delivering an unforgettable performance as he laments the death of a French officer, and with him, the old ways of Europe that are collapsing all around him. Le Grande Illusion shows us the tragic decline of the European nobility.
The “grand illusion” which is revealed in the film is the imaginary maintenance of old aristocratic values during times of war. It is the false belief that the gentleman class is not affected by war. In other words, war is not merely fought by the lower classes, but rather by people of all stations. And it is imperative that people not lose their common humanity —amor patriae is wrapped up in this vast illusion, as well. The history of Le Grande Illusion, itself, is storied. Upon the advent of World War II, it was considered “dangerous” by the ruling classes across the world, often listed as propaganda by the Nazis and seized in Nazi-occupied France just a few short years later (Joseph Goebbels called it “cinematic public enemy number one”). It also met a similar fate at the hands of the Russians. Luckily, a hidden negative of the film was discovered many years later. No doubt, Renoir would have been delighted by this discovery had he lived long enough to witness it.
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Credits:
- Directed by: Jean Renoir
- Written by: Charles Spaak, Jean Renoir
- Produced by: Albert Pinkovitch, Frank Rollmer
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin…..Lieutenant Maréchal, a French officer of modest background
- Marcel Dalio…..Lieutenant Rosenthal, a French officer, of nouveau riche Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry
- Erich von Stroheim…..Captain (later Major) von Rauffenstein, a German flying ace and member of the German nobility
- Cinematography: Christian Matras
- Edited by: Marguerite Renoir, Marthe Huguet, Renée Lichtig (1958 cut)
- Music by: Joseph Kosma
- Production Company: Réalisation d’Art Cinématographique