grand illusion by MARTIN SCORSESE Over the past few decades, we have seen one thrilling discovery after another in the cinema. Here in the western world, our idea of foreign movies was once limited to a handful of filmmakers from a relatively small number of countries. Now, that vision has expanded beyond our wildest dreams. We are still discovering films and filmmakers, new and old, on every continent. Sometimes, though, the excitement of discovery has overshadowed the excitement of re-discovery, which is an entirely different matter because it s felt on a more private level. Film history has always had its official classics, the movies that turn up frequently on 10-best films of all time lists, with iconic moments that have been seen so often in montages and tribute reels that we feel as if we know them by heart. And some of them have become so familiar that we might catch ourselves thinking, Oh, it s great but I never need to see it again. But then, perhaps unexpectedly, we find ourselves taking another look, for one reason or another, and seeing the picture with fresh eyes seeing it for the first time again. A new viewing, a new experience often, a whole new movie. And when the film is genuinely great, rediscovery is more than just exciting. It s a shock to the system. Jean Renoir shot Grand Illusion in 1937 at the Éclair-Billancourt studios (one of the grandest and most modern facilities in Europe), with some location shooting in Alsace, Colmar and Neuf- Brisach. Renoir had served in World War I, first in the cavalry and then, after suffering a leg wound, as a reconnaissance pilot. The idea for the film grew from the experiences of Renoir s former comradesin-arms, one of whom, a fighter pilot named Pinsard, had been shot down and imprisoned and then escaped on multiple occasions. Renoir fashioned a scenario with Charles Spaak, who co-wrote many of the greatest French films of the 30s (including Renoir s version of Gorki s The Lower Depths and several pictures by Jacques Feyder 60 36002_Text.indd 60
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PREVIOUS: Erich von Stroheim in Grand Illusion (1937). ABOVE: Pierre Fresnay and Erich von Stroheim. OPPOSITE: Actor Jean Gabin. and Jean Grémillon). They had a difficult time finding a backer, and it was Jean Gabin s devotion to the project that finally secured financing. The part of Captain von Rauffenstein was originally very small, but when the production manager, Raymond Blondy, suggested Erich von Stroheim for the role, Renoir, Spaak and Renoir s assistant Jacques Becker immediately got to work expanding the role. According to Renoir, Stroheim (surprisingly) remembered very little of his native language and had to learn his German lines phonetically. He was also, initially, difficult and imperious a director who refused to take direction. Renoir told a very touching story about having to publicly confront Stroheim and remind him in the most respectful terms that he was the director. I can t imagine how difficult this must have been for Renoir and for Stroheim, who had once commanded vast armies of actors and technicians and was then more or less banned from directing. Of course, the fact that they were able to resolve their conflict was in the spirit of the picture, and it led to the development of one of the most precious elements of Grand Illusion. But more about that later. The film premiered at the 1937 Venice Film Festival, and according to the critic Raymond Durgnat, Josef Goebbels pressured Benito Mussolini to prevent it from winning a major prize (it was finally given an International Jury Prize as a concession). Other contenders, by the way, were the German picture Der Herrscher, starring Emil Jannings and directed by Veit Harlan, who soon became the Nazi 62 36002_Text.indd 62
filmmaker (there is a fascinating clip from the film in the recent documentary about Harlan, In the Shadow of the Jew Süss); the Italian superproduction Scipione l africano by Carmine Gallone, which won the award for Best Italian Film (unsurprisingly, since it was the only Italian film in competition); Elephant Boy, A Star Is Born and Marked Woman; Sacha Guitry s Les perles de la couronne and Julien Duvivier s Un carnet de bal, which won the top prize. Goebbels declared Grand Illusion Cinematographic Enemy no. 1, Herman Goering liked it (he had been a fighter pilot in World War I himself), Mussolini kept a private copy which he showed to Italian filmmakers, and Franklin Roosevelt famously declared that everyone who believes in democracy should see this film. Renoir s picture was an immediate success, but in the unstable atmosphere of Europe in the late 30s it was distributed in various countries in multiple forms. Goebbels allowed the film to be released in Germany, but all references to Marcel Dalio s character as a Jew were removed. In France and many other countries, a scene in which Gabin climbs into bed with Dita Parlo was censored. Interestingly, the film was banned outright in Belgium by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Spaak s own brother Paul-Henri. After the war, any French picture with a sympathetic attitude toward Germans was seen in a suspect light, and Grand Illusion was released in a reduced version. Also after the war, the negative was thought to have been confiscated and destroyed by the Germans. A dupe negative was discovered in Munich in 1952 and subsequently lost. In 1958, Renoir and Spaak recovered the rights to the film themselves and Renoir used existing materials, including a fine grain print that turned up at the last minute, to create something close to his original cut. In the mid- 60s, several boxes of materials for the film were found and repatriated to the Cinémathèque de Toulouse from Gosfilmofond in Moscow the Soviets had recovered them from the Nazis and held onto them for two decades. These boxes weren t opened until the early 90s, and found to contain the original camera negative! The film was subsequently restored and preserved by the French Film Archives. Rialto Pictures released this version theatrically in 1999, and it was the Criterion Collection s very first DVD. Now, thanks to a new Studio Canal restoration that makes use of digital technology unavailable in the 90s, Grand Illusion looks more gloriously beautiful than ever. When I saw the new prints of Grand Illusion presented by Rialto, I was dumbfounded. In part, it had to do with the sheer visual beauty of the picture, in striking contrast with the inferior quality of the prints we d grown used to over the years. And to really see the film gave me a fresh perspective on its values and its beauties, on the elements that make it so special. Many people, down through the years, have remarked on the humanity of Renoir s pictures, and rightfully so. But it s been said so many times that it s worth looking again at his pictures to see exactly where the humanity lies. First of all, there s a warmth between the characters that remains unsurpassed. Of course, it s also a warmth between the actors; perhaps a better word is familiarity. There s a frank acknowledgment of the actors as people not just how they appear, but who they are. When you watch Gabin and Marcel Dalio, the line between actor and character is so thin that it s almost not there. And in the exchanges between Pierre Fresnay and Gabin one technically precise, the other more instinctive there s a different kind of energy but the same type of awareness of Fresnay and Gabin as people, their different styles of speaking and behaving and simply being in the world. And that kind of frankness and awareness can only be possible when there is real trust, on the set and off trust between director and actors as individuals and as a group, and trust in the moment, in the ability to try anything and feel safe and protected. Renoir himself trusted more and more in improvisation with his actors and you can feel it in the picture, in the camaraderie and the openness of emotion, 36002_Text.indd 63
which is, of course, integral to a story about French prisoners of war who are duty-bound to work together to escape from their German captors. Grand Illusion is a warm and exhilarating film but it is also an enormously painful and moving one, because it is as mindful of what separates people as it is of what binds them. As I indicated before, Renoir and Stroheim worked to develop the character of von Rauffenstein, and the warmth and cordiality the character shares with his fellow aristocrat Captain de Boeldieu, played by Fresnay. They have a greater kinship with one another than either of them do with their working-class countrymen, which has always been the most unusual and bracing side of the picture. The stiffness of von Rauffenstein, with his war wounds and his neck brace, tired of the horrors of war and grounded in tradition and a form of civility that is foreign to Gabin s Maréchal, is very touching. I love the feel of the entire picture, the sense of liberty and joy among the actors and their characters, but the exchanges between Boeldieu and Rauffenstein are deeply moving: they capture a spirit of fellowfeeling between men in a way that is absolutely unique, and I don t know of another filmmaker who s even come close. Grand Illusion is a classic film, but it s also a great film, and to be able to see it as it was meant to be seen is a gift for which all of us should be thankful. Acclaimed filmmaker Martin Scorsese has been a long-time advocate for film preservation, beginning with his campaign to address the problem of color fading in film stock, through his creation of The Film Foundation and his leadership of that organization for the past 22 years, to his support for preserving films from developing countries through the World Cinema Foundation. Scorsese serves as founder and chair of The Film Foundation, and serves on the boards of the National Film Preservation Foundation, the Library of Congress National Film Preservation Board, and the National Center for Film and Video Preservation at the American Film Institute. His most recent film, Hugo (2011) is based on Brian Selznick s beloved book about a boy who discovers George Méliès, and features as its theme the importance of preserving cinema. 64 36002_Text.indd 64 3/5/12 9:12 AM