La Maternelle

Any french movie lover should see this charming story of a young rich woman who lost everything (Madeleine Renaud) and becomes a school maid for poor children. And she gives all her love to these poor kids after having been abandoned by her family, not falling in booze and prostitution. She is helped by a first maid, the extraordinary Mady Berry, who played popular jobs (concierge, cook, hotel boss, grosser, housekeeper, eggs seller, ...), a true french excentrique actress. Madeleine Renaud and Mady Berry, what a team. It could be another french melo of the 30's, but it remains intelligently realistic and all the kids sequences are marvellous. The direction is also intelligent, each shot tells an information and there are fine travellings. Be touched by that lost girl abandoned by her prostitute mother, she shall also lose everything. How did Madeleine Renaud became poor? Perhaps we'll know with a restored french print with missing footage. The giant subtitles in the american print are disastrous and should of course disappear, and the sound need some serious boost. Let's hope.

Marie Epstein was an amazing person. Her collaboration on this film with Jean Benoit Levy is important to understand her contributions to French cinema. Their classic film, "La Maternelle," is one of the earliest French films to use speech. But what makes this film special is that it reminds me of what films can accomplish. They don't have to be complicated. Simplicity can sometimes be best if used properly. The actresses are quite simply unforgettable. The realism is worth watching about a young girl who is abandoned by her prostitute mother and the loving teacher who cares for her like the daughter. I don't like films today because they seem to forget their origins. Sometimes a gaze can say so much more than anything else. The film was shown to our class by Dr. Sandra Flitterman-Lewis who wrote her dissertation on this film and published it in "To Desire Differently." This film says so much more than most films today. It depicts poverty, depression, suicide, prostitution, and abandoning one child so carefully. You forget that it's black and white and 70 years old. It's worth watching.

This is the second version of Léon Frapié's Prix Goncourt winning novel and is indisputably the best. It is difficult to ascertain whether Marie Epstein is assistant here to Jean-Benoit-Levy or co-director but the 'Impressionist' style employed clearly shows the influence of her brother, the brilliant Jean Epstein, with whom she collaborated during the 1920's.

What is remarkable about this film is the overwhelming sense of 'being there', the apparent lack of structure that gives it an immediacy and the fluid camerawork of Georges Asselin that gives the impression of perpetual movement.

The characters are played with astonishing naturalness by all, notably Alice Tissot, Mady Berry and Alex Bernard. What can one possibly say of Madeleine Renaud? First and foremost a stage actress her forays into film were rare but select. Her understated, humane, heartfelt performance here as Rose is simply breathtaking.

The temptation to make the children 'cute' has been resisted and they are instead portrayed as little adults. Special mention must be made of Paulette Élembert as Marie whose exceptional performance puts her in the elevated company of those child actors who have touched our hearts.

This miraculous piece, as well as being a powerful social commentary of the time, is also a plea for compassion over repression in the education of children.

"Hold children in reverence." So said Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the makers of this film were evidently of the same opinion.

As the author of To Desire Differently: Feminism & the French Cinema, I need to reaffirm that although my book deals with female authorship, the exquisite 1933 film LA MATERNELLE was made by two directors, Jean Benoit-Levy and Marie Epstein. For purposes of my book, I chose to emphasize Epstein's participation in the 11 feature films she made with Benoit-Levy. However, further research has indicated that in fact, Epstein co-directed some films and assisted on others. In this light, I wish to correct the mistaken impression that this is Marie's film alone. While I appreciate the fact that she has gotten much needed attention, I am emphatic about reinstating Jean Benoit-Levy as the primary director of LA MATERNELLE.

Jean Epstein:"His sister Marie, was during his life a most faithful collaborator, the author of many scenarios, and in later life one of the three muses of Henri Langlois at the Cinémathèque Française. Together with Benoit-Lévy she directed La Maternelle." (wikipedia) There are three comments ,which is very rare for a French movie of the early thirties ,none of which comes from France!It speaks volumes about the disdain of the Froggies for the oldies but Goldies .For "La Maternelle" is a gem ,something unique -I can't see any equivalent in the French cinema before WW2.Although the movie has a running time of 100min ,the copy circulating in France -which is actually an American one with English subtitles -barely exceeds 80 min.It's obvious the parts which are missing are to be found at the beginning: the only scene concerning Rose's earlier life ,when she was part of the elite ,chic people : only a short sequence of a ball and that's it;we learn nothing from the death of her father and from her unfaithful fiancé who walked out on her.All Rose says is "I've got to earn my living".

Rose wants to work with children and she can't wait for a teacher job;so she becomes a simple maid in an "Ecole Maternelle"(there's no English word for it,certainly not "kindergarten" ).When they discover she 's got her "Brevet Supérieur" -for people reading the subtitles ,it's not a college degree ,but for the thirties it's a diploma few girls possessed-,it will cause a little scandal :"you are educated!we can't keep you as a maid!you've gotta get away and find another job,in line with your culture! Rose's love and affection for the children is absolutely extraordinary .Madeleine Renaud gives a sensational restrained performance ,she never overplays and we are at school with her.A school which ,in the thirties does not look like the modern Ecole Maternelle of the twenty-first century with their computers .One thing ,however ,has not changed .Some children are miserable,and the only love they can get sometimes comes from their teachers ,particularly when they are very young.The principal (Alice Tissot) is interested only in her career and the crude "first" maid (Mady Berry)will find the way to the pupils' heart at the end of the movie.

The head teacher has something magical in her office :when you sit down on a chair ,a music box tune is heard ,which brings joy inside the brats ' tears .And tears fall down and go by in this school.There's "Fondant" a boy who does not know how to smile ;Rose will bring back a smile on his lips a few days before he passes away (it's not a rosy world which the two directors depict).The scene is one of these before which you can't hold back your tears .There's Marie a little girl "whose mother is always away,because of her job" says the concierge in her pertinent lines:mum is playing around ,dating men ,sometimes before her daughter's eyes .A semi whore ,she leaves her child with the concierge .

The children are wonderfully filmed and the movie is full of memorable scenes ,the sequence of the rabbit coming to mind when the movie is talked about ,which is rare in its country.

It's populism ,this populism which will lead (with Carné and Duvivier)the French Cinema on Realisme Poétique territory ,it goes without saying that "La Maternelle" was ahead of its time ,the French cinema of that era (with notable exceptions such as Jacques Feyder, Jean Renoir , Jean Vigo and Julien Duvivier) essentially consisting of melodramas and comedies.

Like this? try these......

"Poil De Carotte" (1925 and 1932) Julien Duvivier.

"L'Ecole Buisonnière" Jean -Paul Le Chanois (1949)

"Cuore" Luigi Comencini (1984)

"Cà Commence Aujourd'hui" Bertrand Tavernier,(1999)

This is a movie which is desperately in need of restoration,particularly in those trouble times when our Ecole Maternelle is in jeopardy,on account of deplorable policies !Let's salute our teachers of long ago's work and may we make themselves proud wherever they are!