- French Cancan
This weekend the Gene Siskel Film Center continued its new series, titled “Great War/Grande Guerre: World War I on Film,” with a screening of Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion, the French classic of poetic realism. Many of Renoir’s films were unappreciated upon release, but only this one earned the scorn of the Third Reich—Joseph Goebbels declared the film “Cinematic Public Enemy No. 1” after it premiered at the Venice Film Festival. It’s easy to see why the film’s humanist, antiwar sentiments would ruffle Nazi feathers. Renoir is one the most important directors to ever live, a wry and gifted social commentator whose innovative, intricately structured films represent perhaps the most thorough and inquisitive exploration of the human condition in cinema. He requires no further introduction, so let’s just skip on down to my five favorite Renoir films.
- French Cancan (1954) Renoir’s grand tribute to art is an ode to expression that is itself highly expressive, using techniques inspired by French Impressionism and Edgar Degas to bring to life the film’s many movements and colors. It’s the most lyrical of his later films, a sort of reappraisal of his humanist themes and interests. One of Renoir’s greatest skills as a storyteller was his ability to satirize something without resorting to pettiness or maliciousness, evident here in his pointed treatment of the nightclub folk who disparage the lower class but nevertheless endear themselves to the audience.
