Claudine à l'école

Claudine à l'Ecole is such a funny comedy from 1937 with all its bucolic and rousseauiste scenes in the Valley of Chevreuse in the west of Paris : Claudine swimming naked in the river, sleeping in the fields in the straw, walking in the hills, seeing scenes with farmers, and a lot of scenes in old villages with old sets. Filming these scenes on location was a documentary and poetic vision of the way of life in the thirties, especially all the school scenes.

And Serge de Poligny uses very fine editing and camera movements to show this wonderful country and way of life, like painters also did. The Valley of Chevreuse is still a lovely place for strolling among the forest, hills, cascades, lakes, villages.

And the very best of this charming movie is the lovely Blanchette Brunoy. Un délice.

Writer Colette was bisexual and she was denied a religious funeral;her novel,which contained risqué scenes ,had to be sweetened because of the censorship.The "Office Catholique Du Cinema " banned the movie :they gave it a 5, a rating reserved for the most scandalous works.

This is the chronicle -inspired by the writer's memories- of a girls school where man is almost always absent (except for the doctor played by Pierre Brasseur,particularly in the vaccination scene:does the girl faint because she's afraid of the injection,or because she falls for the handsome physician?)

The daring side of the novel was watered down but Serge De Poligny managed to keep a discreet lesbian atmosphere now and then.One of the teachers ,Miss Sergent (sic) (Margo Lion) is in love with her student Claudine (Blanchette Brunoy) and when another teacher arrives ,she gets jealous. As for the teenager,her heart is broken when she sees her new mistress flirting with the doc .A mistress who does not seem that much fond of men,and anyway the handsome man has a fiancée we meet at the fair.

Memorable scenes: Margo lion,showing her ridiculous bathing suit;Brunoy rowing away and meeting along the river a pair of lovers making love and two "lovebirds". Taking a rebel stand,she strips bare and swims in the nude.

The prize giving day ,now a thing of the past: the famous "Prix D'Excellence"(prize for coming first in the class):it's all terribly quaint ,but not short on charm.

The carousel,a possible metaphor for the ways of love which make you feel Dizzy.These last pictures ,which include the word "Fin" (the end) will make you think of "strangers on a train" .

Poligny's most interesting works,nevertheless,are "Le Baron Fantôme " and "La fiancée Des Ténèbres" ,romantic fantasy films.