La Grande Illusion - 75th Anniversary

Jean Renoir’s undisputed masterpiece celebrates its 75th Anniversary and is currently screening in selected cinemas – digitally restored. It will also be released on Blu-ray and DVD.

La Grande Illusion is a poetic and poignant meditation on class, the nature of war (in this case the First World War) and ultimately not only on death but also the death of the old European order. When the 1937 film was released, it was declared the ‘Cinematographic Enemy Number One) by the Nazis, after it won a prize at the Venice Film Festival. France soon followed suit and also banned the film – worried the film’s anti-war message might demoralise troops.
What followed then is almost as adventurous as the film itself: the original negative was long feared destroyed in an Allied bombing raid on the lab it was kept at, though in reality it had been confiscated by the Nazis and shipped to the Reichsfilmarchiv in Berlin. However, the archive happened to be situated in the Russian zone after the war, and so the negative found its way to Moscow and was eventually returned to France in the 1960’s, where – almost unbelievably – the negative lay undamaged and unidentified in storage at La Cinémathéque de Toulouse until the 1990’s!

Despite coming from different class backgrounds and social ranks, aristocratic Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresney), mechanic Lieutenant Marechal (Jean Gabin) and wealthy Jewish banker Rosenthal (Marcel Dalio) are all thrown together as prisoners of the Germans during World War 1. Separated by an initially successful escape, they are first recaptured and then reunited in an imposing fortress commanded by German aristocrat Von Rauffenstein (Erich Von Stroheim at his intimidating best). Despite being ‘enemies’, Boeldieu and Von Rauffenstein strike up an unlikely friendship that reflects their status and belonging to a social elite they know is on the way out. Boeldieu’s rapport seemingly threatens his allegiances to his own comrades; however, a cruel twist of fate and sacrifice on his side enables Marechal and Rosenthal to escape for a second time.

As they make their way across the enemy German countryside, trying to cross over into safe Switzerland, both Marechal and Rosenthal are given refugee in a farm by Elsa (Dita Parlo), a German women who has lost her husband in the war and now lives alone, only with her little daughter Lotte for company. Marechal and Elsa fall in love, despite him not speaking German and her not speaking French. This part of the plot no doubt incensed the Nazis further, but was also testimony to Renoir’s vision that ‘love knows no boundaries’. Realizing they not only put Elsa in danger but their own lives too, if they stay on, Rosenthal and Marechal decide to carry on with their journey in the hope to reach the safety of Switzerland. Marechal promises Elsa he will come back for her after the war, should he survive. The two manage indeed to make it to safety across the border, camera fading out as they trudge along through deep snow. Despite having successfully escaped and being alive, we don’t know whether Marechal really will come back for Elsa – their love and plans might have been a grand illusion, too.

DVD Extras include: Intro by Jean Renoir / Intro by Ginette Vincendeau / Original trailer

Blu-ray Extras include… a lot more!