A Grande Ilusão

'La Grande Illusion' is one of those films that reaffirm a film lover's belief that cinema as an art form can be used by filmmakers to bring people together.

The screenplay for the film written by Renoir and Charles Spaak is extremely deep and multi layered. Although the film is set during the WW1 era, the timing of the making and release of the film is very important. This was released when the Nazi party in Germany was becoming more and more powerful and another global war was imminent. I can't help but think that this film was Renoir's attempt to make people stray away from the extremism that they were getting influenced by. Although it didn't achieve its intended objective, one can't help but admire the artist's intentions.

If one has to summarise 'La Grande Illusion' in one phrase, I think the phrase to be used is 'the power of humanism'. Renoir loves every single character in the film. Not just the French soldiers, even the German soldiers get treated with respect. The Germans are not stereotypical caricatures as is found in some other films of this era. The German officers treat their French prisoners with kindness. This shows Renoir understood that there were ordinary, innocent German people who were caught in the middle of the wars being instigated by the politicians in power.

Apart from underlining the humanism and the similarity between the soldiers on all sides, the film also works on other themes. The film explores the changing times. We see the men who have been detached from the outside world due to the war feel surprised when they hear that women are keeping their hair short. One of them equates this appearance with the appearance of a boy. This is clearly Renoir commenting upon the progress women were making at the time in trying to gain equality. We also get the angle of the changing nature of the class distinctions. Rauffenstein and Boeldieu belonged to the higher classes. They understand and respect each other even though they belong to Germany and France respectively. We see them reminisce about the old times and talk about how they feel out of place in a fast changing world where the class distinctions are getting distorted as they embark on an era where people belonging to lower classes as well as Jews will be equal to them. We also get a subtle introspection on the concept of masculinity in this changing society.

Renoir through his visuals shows how all the characters are at times literally and at times thematically trapped by the war. We get his signature shots of frames within frame to metaphorically imply that the characters are trapped. Every character, be it French or German is trapped mentally and physically by the war. Even a high officer like Rauffenstein feels trapped in his claustrophobic chamber. They are all detached from the outside world. They want freedom, but are apprehensive about whether they will be ready for what awaits them on the outside once they get their 'freedom'. This internal apprehension of not being ready to live on the outside reminded me of 'The Shawshank Redemption'.

Like Powell & Pressburger did with 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp', Renoir is bidding farewell to an era where even wars were fought with a gentlemanly attitude. Although he does touch upon the class distinctions and some other aspects that plagued that earlier era, but he is primarily concerned with the humanism of that characters. So, we see the kindness between soldiers belonging to different nations. This can lead to a a criticism that the film is a bit overly romanticised and is a bit of a wish fulfillment exercise as it doesn't depict the brutalities of war. But I think a brutally real account of WW1 was never Renoir's vision. In the midst of the rise of the Nazi Party and the huge possibility of another war, he wanted to make a film that makes the viewers renounce extremism and in the process instill the spirit of a unified Europe, no matter how unrealistic it may seem. This is why I think 'La Grande Illusion' will work brilliantly as a double feature with Kubrick's 'Paths of Glory'. While the first shows soldiers from different nations treating each other with kindness, the latter shows French officers being monstrously merciless to their own French colleagues.

Renoir's visual style is beyond impressive. He uses very little editing in most scenes, instead he constantly keeps moving the camera to reveal other characters in the room or to reveal new parts of the interior which were earlier not visible in the frame. He also uses deep focus effectively to make the visual language of the film very character-inclusive in the sense that all the characters find importance in a scene. This inclusive nature of his style executed by tracking shots is epitomised by the famous scene involving the singing of 'La Marseillaise', a scene where he practically uses no cuts.

Performance wise, I'll give special mention to Jean Gabin, Erich von Stroheim and Pierre Fresnay.

'La Grande Illusion' is a film that I can watch over and over again and get something new out of it on each viewing. It is rich in humanism, thematic depth and Renoir's brilliant directorial skills. The title of the film itself is layered and open to many interpretations. What was the grand illusion? Is it the illusion that one can achieve freedom from the suffering by escaping from prison camps or is it the illusion that the world that awaits these soldiers after the war ends will be the same as the one that they left behind? Or is war itself the grand illusion that creates barriers between human beings who are all the same, but get divided based on geographical borders? Maybe it is one of them, maybe it is all of them.

Every time I watch this I find something else I hadn't thought of before, every viewing is an augmented experience. Things I hadn't spotted at 11, 19, 22 etc I spotted last night, mostly inconsequential but still adding to the picture 36 years after my first time. That to me is the difference between great films and Great films, one of the reasons why this ostensibly simple movie is one of the all time Greats.

And it is simple (the simplest things are usually the best) - boring to some people who sadly will never understand its logic and magic - an absorbing prisoner of war tale that is also a prisoner of class tale. It defines that class loyalties are more meaningful than patriotism even if not always practical, and that to those who consider themselves to have breeding it's far more important to have "blood" than capital. Boldieu and Rauffenstein embody this, they both knew their chivalric world order was being gradually diminished - the next war will and was led by people without breeding, types like Marechal and Rosenthal who fought on. The most significant borders are not between countries, races, religions, sexes or ages but those between the classes. Renoir was at his most inspired with Illusion, with so many memorable images and set-pieces, an engrossing storyline even when down to trying to say blue eyes in German or being posh by gossipping in English, and fantastic acting by all concerned. Everything has already been covered and better in previous posts, but I would add I don't understand why Regle du jeu is the Renoir film that gets the kudos today - unless by being deliberately more obscure it appeals to influential Artheads.

The French film I love the most.

Jean Renoir's classic "La Grande Illusion" has something to recommend it to anyone - there is fine acting, directing, writing, and photography, and a story filled with memorable characters who are involved in action, suspense, and drama, with some comic parts and even, later in the film, some romance. All of it fits together perfectly to create a timeless and very satisfying experience.

The movie takes place during World War I, and is often considered an anti-war film, but the themes about humanity, relationships, loyalties, and identities are all timeless and go beyond any mere political statement. The interplay between persons of different nationalities and classes, thrown together by the war, leads to good drama and makes some profound points about human nature. The story primarily follows three Frenchmen who are taken prisoner by the Germans, showing us how they manage to deal with their confinement, and allowing us to watch their disappointments and their attempts to escape. The other main character is a German prison camp commander with whom they become friendly, raising complicated questions of loyalty and duty.

The character studies are excellent, and all the fine acting and directing get the most of out the possibilities. The settings are convincing and help the viewer feel what it was like to be in camp with the prisoners, sharing their boredom and their longing for freedom. The plot itself is interesting, and has some exciting moments, but the main emphasis is on what the characters learn about themselves and about humanity in general. There are many thoughtful scenes and some nicely defined secondary characters that round out the picture.

This is a fine movie, deserving of its reputation, and one that should appeal highly to anyone who enjoys classic cinema.

Grand Illusion is a movie about class that doesn't hate anyone. How often does that happen? Yes, there are namby-pamby movies that "show all sides" and bore everyone with their non-existent point-of-view, but that's not what I mean. And, of course, there are plenty of movies about class that reveal their biases from the start; I'm rather fond of Eat the Rich movies, myself. But Grand Illusion is about class without dismissing any of its characters. The aristocrats whose world is disappearing are presented as tragic figures, stuck in a code of life that is rapidly becoming meaningless. Both aristocrats know their time is past; the French one accepts this as probably a good thing, the German one doesn't (and blames the French one's sentiments on the French Revolution), but they both know their way of life is soon to be forgotten. And it would be easy for Renoir, when he made the film in the mid-30s a French communist with proletarian sympathies, to demonize these two. But he doesn't; he allows them their humanity, which is the most characteristic feature of Renoir movies in any event (he is the great humanist of movie history).

Nor does he show the collapse of the old way as an unfortunate preface to chaos. The bourgeois characters are good people. The world might be safe in their hands, as safe as in any other hands at least (except for the propensity among nations for war). All of the middle and lower-class characters in the movie are presented as people, not stereotypes. But Renoir doesn't accomplish this by collapsing all class boundaries into some homogenous universalism. These characters remain trapped within their class, and their class is clear to the viewer. The movie is not about the absence of class but about the crushing ironies of the very real existence of class in the lives of the characters. To show all classes without condescension, while retaining a particular point of view (that while people are good, it's best that the aristocratic world is in decline), is pretty amazing.

In Grand Illusion, the nominal hero is working/middle-class, but the upper class isn't evil and the lower class isn't romanticized or dismissed. And it's all accomplished in such a seamless way that many, if not most, first-time viewers might easily think it was a fine movie but something less than great. It sneaks up on you, and more than just about any film you can name, rewards multiple viewings.

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.