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PROFESSOR: Good evening people.

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I place so much emphasis on
Renoir's camera because I

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00:00:32,710 --> 00:00:36,490
think it's so
fundamentally expresses

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00:00:36,490 --> 00:00:38,390
his sense of experience.

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00:00:38,390 --> 00:00:42,360
And if you become attentive
to the really quiet and subtle

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00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:46,240
ways in which Renoir's camera
is almost always in action,

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is a part of the
story in some sense,

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00:00:48,980 --> 00:00:52,120
you can begin to capture
something of his importance

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00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:54,010
in the history of cinema.

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00:00:54,010 --> 00:00:58,630
Because no director or
apprentice director, whoever

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studied, looked
at Renoir's films

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00:01:01,550 --> 00:01:04,980
came away from it the
same, and his influence

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00:01:04,980 --> 00:01:08,930
is almost impossible
to fully measure.

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00:01:08,930 --> 00:01:11,510
there are no
cinematic traditions,

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00:01:11,510 --> 00:01:14,380
after Renoir, that haven't,
at least in some degree,

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00:01:14,380 --> 00:01:17,200
even if not directly, then
indirectly through other people

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00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:20,050
who've been influenced
by him have been

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00:01:20,050 --> 00:01:23,530
shaped by Renoir's example.

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00:01:23,530 --> 00:01:25,340
And I wanted to
give you one more

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00:01:25,340 --> 00:01:27,260
instance of Renoir's camera.

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00:01:27,260 --> 00:01:30,220
This is from a film I've
mentioned, but not shown you.

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It's from the last of
his great French films.

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00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:35,470
Some people, many
people would say it's

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00:01:35,470 --> 00:01:38,040
his greatest film, one
of the great masterpieces

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00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:40,946
in the history of movies,
the rules of the game.

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00:01:40,946 --> 00:01:42,820
The only reason I don't
show it in our course

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00:01:42,820 --> 00:01:45,560
is that it's, in many
ways, a more difficult,

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00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:49,140
a more complex film
then Grand Illusion.

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00:01:49,140 --> 00:01:54,460
there's a grand clarity, or
simplicity of a certain kind.

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00:01:54,460 --> 00:01:57,990
not a simplicity of character,
or a vision, or a theme,

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00:01:57,990 --> 00:02:01,570
but a simplicity of
intention that becomes clear,

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00:02:01,570 --> 00:02:03,470
at least after the
fact in Grand Illusion.

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00:02:03,470 --> 00:02:06,400
It's a more accessible film,
especially for Americans,

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00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:07,650
I think.

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00:02:07,650 --> 00:02:13,740
The Rules of The Game,
much more profoundly,

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00:02:13,740 --> 00:02:20,030
is a meditation
on the theme that

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00:02:20,030 --> 00:02:21,900
is also present
in Grand Illusion,

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00:02:21,900 --> 00:02:26,200
as you'll see this evening, the
theme of historical transition.

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00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:30,240
But it's a much more complex
and extended meditation

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00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:33,540
on what was happening
to French society

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00:02:33,540 --> 00:02:37,610
in this immense
transition that took place

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00:02:37,610 --> 00:02:39,570
at the beginning of
the 20th century.

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00:02:39,570 --> 00:02:41,690
Essentially, it's a
transition, as you'll

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00:02:41,690 --> 00:02:46,310
see dramatized in the film
we're showing tonight,

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00:02:46,310 --> 00:02:48,760
Grand Illusion,
It's a transition

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from an aristocratic to
a middle class culture.

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00:02:51,570 --> 00:02:55,930
From an aristocratic
dispensation,

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00:02:55,930 --> 00:03:01,140
to a quasi democratic, or
more democratic dispensation.

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00:03:01,140 --> 00:03:05,470
And this was a topic
which preoccupied

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00:03:05,470 --> 00:03:08,210
many directors, Renoir
especially, and is

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00:03:08,210 --> 00:03:12,250
a kind of central topic in both
Rules of the Game and Grand

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00:03:12,250 --> 00:03:13,030
Illusion.

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00:03:13,030 --> 00:03:16,250
This scene from
Rules of the Game

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is maybe his least
subtle in some ways.

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Or rather, the
subtlety is harder

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to see if you're just
looking at a clip.

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The subtlety is involved in
the characters themselves,

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00:03:26,090 --> 00:03:27,970
who have already,
in some degree,

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been established in a kind
of individuality, which

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00:03:31,010 --> 00:03:35,040
then further expresses itself in
the scene you're going to see.

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The basic situation of
the Rules of the Game

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is a classically powerful one.

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it's essentially a
weekend of festivities.

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A marquee, a grand
figure, presumably who

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owns a remarkable chateau,
invites some friends

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for a weekend of games
and shooting, hunting,

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00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:06,770
at his great chateau
in the country.

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00:04:06,770 --> 00:04:11,420
And the film is a kind
of series of tableau,

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or a series of
festivities, all of which

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are cankered, or
damaged in some way.

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It's as if we have a sense
that each of the festivities

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or festivals that are dramatized
in the Rules of the Game

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00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:26,300
are diminished versions of
something that, in the past,

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had great authority, power,
and cultural centrality,

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00:04:30,220 --> 00:04:37,150
but have become now diminished,
and even parodically reduced

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versions of what they
had been when they were

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part of a coherent culture.

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it's almost as if these
festivals and rituals have

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become-- are recognized by the
film, although not necessarily

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by the characters
inside the film,

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00:04:50,350 --> 00:04:53,290
as vestiges of a time
that has now passed.

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And the most dramatic
instance of this subject,

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00:04:56,840 --> 00:04:59,080
or the embodiment
of this theme, is

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the scene you're going to see.

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It's the hunting scene.

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00:05:02,330 --> 00:05:06,700
And I want you to, sort of,
at least get a sense of it,

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00:05:06,700 --> 00:05:09,860
not only because it's
an important film

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00:05:09,860 --> 00:05:11,430
and I'd like to fix
it in your mind.

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00:05:11,430 --> 00:05:13,440
Maybe give you a taste
of it so you'll go out

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00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:15,800
and look at the film yourself.

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00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:19,400
these two films, Grand
Illusion and Rules

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of the Game are certainly
the pinnacle of Renoir's art,

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00:05:22,310 --> 00:05:24,520
and people who know
these films deeply

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know something
important about film,

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00:05:26,770 --> 00:05:30,270
know something important
about what works of art are.

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00:05:30,270 --> 00:05:31,846
So I want to see
for that reason.

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00:05:31,846 --> 00:05:33,220
But I also want
you to see to get

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00:05:33,220 --> 00:05:36,180
one more experience,
outside of Grand Illusion,

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00:05:36,180 --> 00:05:39,280
of the way Renoir's
camera behaves.

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especially the way it
establishes a relationship

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between character and
ground, between character

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00:05:45,460 --> 00:05:46,690
and environment.

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And here, of course,
the camera's job

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is not only to tell us
something about the relations

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00:05:50,930 --> 00:05:52,580
among the characters,
and to show

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00:05:52,580 --> 00:05:57,400
us their interactions in as
economically powerful a way as

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00:05:57,400 --> 00:05:59,330
possible, but also
to give us a sense

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of this grand ritual gone bad.

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OK.

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00:06:04,107 --> 00:06:05,604
[VIDEO PLAYBACK]

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00:06:05,604 --> 00:06:10,095
[HORN BLOWS]

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-[INAUDIBLE]

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[END PLAYBACK]

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PROFESSOR: Freeze it one second.

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00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:17,180
That little character
who's giving instructions,

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00:06:17,180 --> 00:06:18,570
you will recognize him.

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The actor's name
is Dalio, and he's

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the one who plays Rosenthal
in Grand Illusion.

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In this film, he
plays the marquis.

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00:06:27,354 --> 00:06:29,839
[VIDEO PLAYBACK]

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00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:31,827
-[SPEAKING FRENCH]

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00:07:07,670 --> 00:07:11,300
PROFESSOR: You see how powerful
it is not to have fake music?

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00:07:11,300 --> 00:07:13,350
What, just the effect
of that is on the film?

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I shouldn't say fake
music, non-diegetic music,

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00:07:18,890 --> 00:07:21,040
music that's not part
of the scene itself.

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There's Dalio.

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00:07:43,630 --> 00:07:45,252
-[SPEAKING FRENCH]

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00:07:46,725 --> 00:07:48,689
-[SPEAKING FRENCH]

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00:07:53,108 --> 00:07:55,072
[HORN BLOWING]

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00:07:58,509 --> 00:08:01,455
[CLATTERING]

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00:08:10,784 --> 00:08:11,980
[END PLAYBACK]

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00:08:11,980 --> 00:08:13,730
PROFESSOR: Freeze it
for a second, please.

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00:08:13,730 --> 00:08:15,429
I wish we had time
to dwell on this,

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00:08:15,429 --> 00:08:17,470
and I won't do this too
much because I'll run out

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00:08:17,470 --> 00:08:18,969
of time for what I
need to tell you,

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00:08:18,969 --> 00:08:21,020
but tell me what you
see here quickly.

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00:08:21,020 --> 00:08:24,510
Make some conclusions about--
what about this great ritual?

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00:08:24,510 --> 00:08:27,870
Immediately, what would we
think if we're watching this?

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00:08:27,870 --> 00:08:31,720
What's one conclusion
you draw from this?

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00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:37,070
Is this hunting the
activity of brave

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00:08:37,070 --> 00:08:39,309
pioneering souls
who are confronting

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00:08:39,309 --> 00:08:41,342
the dangers of the wilderness?

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00:08:41,342 --> 00:08:42,289
[LAUGHS]

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Right?

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00:08:42,789 --> 00:08:48,330
It's an unbelievably
controlled, and in many ways,

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murderous environment isn't it?

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What have we begun to feel
about these creatures that

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00:08:53,150 --> 00:08:55,490
are being flushed out?

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00:08:55,490 --> 00:08:57,700
Tremendous sympathy
for them, right?

157
00:08:57,700 --> 00:08:59,440
We're hostile to
the adults, right?

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00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:01,540
We're hostile to the
human beings in the scene.

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00:09:01,540 --> 00:09:03,540
We think there's something
the matter with this.

160
00:09:03,540 --> 00:09:07,240
And of course in the
olden days, presumably

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00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:10,400
in the days when
such hunts occurred

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00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:14,250
in a more coherent,
and less forced way,

163
00:09:14,250 --> 00:09:16,360
you need beaters to go
around in other words,

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00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:20,140
making noise to scare the
few vestiges of rabbits

165
00:09:20,140 --> 00:09:23,250
and other game out into the
open so people with giant guns

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00:09:23,250 --> 00:09:26,730
could kill them. right?

167
00:09:26,730 --> 00:09:29,850
in the 16th or the 15th
century, or the 18th century,

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00:09:29,850 --> 00:09:32,570
these fields were
teeming with game.

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00:09:32,570 --> 00:09:34,480
Now, in the 20th
century, you have

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00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:37,330
to beat the sticks to
get them to come out.

171
00:09:37,330 --> 00:09:40,311
What a parody of what
an actual hunt would be.

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00:09:40,311 --> 00:09:40,810
Go ahead.

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00:09:40,810 --> 00:09:41,768
[VIDEO PLAYBACK]

174
00:09:41,768 --> 00:09:48,960
[CLATTERING]

175
00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:51,420
PROFESSOR: When this film was
made-- I forgot the number,

176
00:09:51,420 --> 00:09:53,670
I have it in my notes, but
I couldn't find them there,

177
00:09:53,670 --> 00:09:55,100
I left them in my office.

178
00:09:55,100 --> 00:09:56,640
A certain number
of these animals

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00:09:56,640 --> 00:10:00,936
were actually killed in
the making of the film.

180
00:10:00,936 --> 00:10:03,380
I forgot the number, but
it's a significant number.

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00:10:03,380 --> 00:10:09,049
[GUNSHOTS]

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00:10:09,049 --> 00:10:10,840
PROFESSOR: If today,
they made such a film,

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00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:13,336
there are rules that don't
allow them to kill animals.

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00:10:13,336 --> 00:10:15,824
[GUNSHOTS]

185
00:10:15,824 --> 00:10:16,324
[BIRD CHIRP]

186
00:10:16,324 --> 00:10:18,814
[GUNSHOTS]

187
00:10:58,156 --> 00:11:01,144
[GUNSHOTS]

188
00:11:07,343 --> 00:11:08,890
[HORN BLOWS]

189
00:11:24,492 --> 00:11:26,484
[END PLAYBACK]

190
00:11:26,484 --> 00:11:29,210
PROFESSOR: OK, you get
some sense of how powerful

191
00:11:29,210 --> 00:11:33,130
a satirist, but also how
quiet a satirist, he can be.

192
00:11:33,130 --> 00:11:34,547
It's not as if the
film-- it's not

193
00:11:34,547 --> 00:11:36,880
as if there's someone there
saying, isn't this horrible.

194
00:11:36,880 --> 00:11:38,950
He's leaving it to the
audience to figure out,

195
00:11:38,950 --> 00:11:41,760
although, it doesn't take too
much to figure it out, does it?

196
00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:44,480
What you can pick up from
this, it makes, maybe,

197
00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:47,390
the scene that I've shown you
may make the scene seem cruder

198
00:11:47,390 --> 00:11:48,250
than it is.

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00:11:48,250 --> 00:11:51,520
Virtually all the characters,
faces that you've seen.

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00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:53,880
most of them, anyway, are
major characters in the film.

201
00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:55,180
And even by this
time in the film,

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00:11:55,180 --> 00:11:57,120
you've gotten to know
some of them quite well.

203
00:11:57,120 --> 00:11:59,780
So they've been humanized
and individuated,

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00:11:59,780 --> 00:12:02,440
and that makes the
brutality, to which they

205
00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:05,936
are mostly oblivious, of what's
happening even more powerful.

206
00:12:05,936 --> 00:12:08,310
You don't hate the characters
who are doing the shooting.

207
00:12:08,310 --> 00:12:12,400
you know them for the comic,
and damaged, and ambitious,

208
00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:15,240
and idealistic, and
foolish characters

209
00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:17,690
they've already shown themselves
to be by the time they

210
00:12:17,690 --> 00:12:18,880
get into this scene.

211
00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:21,130
It's almost as if they,
themselves, are also victims

212
00:12:21,130 --> 00:12:23,470
of this ritual they're part of.

213
00:12:23,470 --> 00:12:25,900
So there's a kind of subtlety
that you can't pick up

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00:12:25,900 --> 00:12:30,910
on just watching the clip, that
is present for any audience

215
00:12:30,910 --> 00:12:31,490
member.

216
00:12:31,490 --> 00:12:34,760
But I wanted you to see that
this scene, also in part,

217
00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:39,270
again, to show you how
powerfully Renoir's camera is

218
00:12:39,270 --> 00:12:44,120
able to create emotional
and intellectual responses

219
00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:47,840
in the audience, in a way
that is, in some sense,

220
00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:49,870
diametrically opposed
to what we might call

221
00:12:49,870 --> 00:12:52,931
expressionist directors like
Hitchcock or Eisenstein might

222
00:12:52,931 --> 00:12:53,430
do.

223
00:12:53,430 --> 00:12:57,940
By manipulating our
attitudes, by constant,

224
00:12:57,940 --> 00:13:01,350
by very rapid editing, and by
giving us high or low angle

225
00:13:01,350 --> 00:13:04,910
shots that control our emotional
response because of the way

226
00:13:04,910 --> 00:13:07,250
we're seeing things.

227
00:13:07,250 --> 00:13:09,920
Renoir's strategies
can be just as powerful

228
00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:13,110
in terms of emotional
and moral reaction,

229
00:13:13,110 --> 00:13:15,960
but Renoir's strategy
is quite different.

230
00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:18,900
Present the evidence, in
some sense, to the audience.

231
00:13:18,900 --> 00:13:24,100
Keep the camera at a level
that allows the full action

232
00:13:24,100 --> 00:13:25,664
to be taken in.

233
00:13:25,664 --> 00:13:27,080
I hope you realize
that there were

234
00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:28,960
relatively few
cuts in that scene,

235
00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:32,250
and in most of Renoir's
work the number of edits

236
00:13:32,250 --> 00:13:35,210
is relatively small compared
to the number of scenes

237
00:13:35,210 --> 00:13:40,290
that are extended, the amount
of long takes that we have.

238
00:13:40,290 --> 00:13:43,590
And there are certain
moments in the film where

239
00:13:43,590 --> 00:13:45,320
he will vary this strategy.

240
00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:47,010
For example, and you
might want to watch

241
00:13:47,010 --> 00:13:48,520
for this in tonight's
film, there's

242
00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:55,010
one moment in tonight's film,
an interview between two

243
00:13:55,010 --> 00:13:59,720
of the central characters, the
German prison warden played

244
00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:05,260
by Erik Von Stroheim,
and the French aristocrat

245
00:14:05,260 --> 00:14:09,940
named du Boeldieu, played by
an actor named de Fresnay.

246
00:14:09,940 --> 00:14:14,590
And in this scene between
the German and the Frenchman,

247
00:14:14,590 --> 00:14:16,060
one of the things
we recognize is,

248
00:14:16,060 --> 00:14:18,540
because they belong to
the aristocratic class,

249
00:14:18,540 --> 00:14:20,250
they have a lot in common.

250
00:14:20,250 --> 00:14:23,339
They speak English, for example,
because they both know English,

251
00:14:23,339 --> 00:14:25,380
even though one's a German
and one's a Frenchman.

252
00:14:25,380 --> 00:14:28,030
And there is a sense in the
film, a very powerful one

253
00:14:28,030 --> 00:14:31,590
that's established, that they
have, in some sense, a greater

254
00:14:31,590 --> 00:14:37,390
connection to each other than
they have with other soldiers

255
00:14:37,390 --> 00:14:39,530
in their own armies.

256
00:14:39,530 --> 00:14:42,540
And the film meditates
on these distinctions,

257
00:14:42,540 --> 00:14:45,780
and especially on this
conundrum of social class,

258
00:14:45,780 --> 00:14:48,930
in rather a complex
way as I'll suggest.

259
00:14:48,930 --> 00:14:54,110
Well, in the very first
scene between Boeldieu

260
00:14:54,110 --> 00:14:59,830
and Rauffenstein, the
German and the Frenchman,

261
00:14:59,830 --> 00:15:04,120
Renoir uses a fairly standard
procedure, much more common

262
00:15:04,120 --> 00:15:06,820
to other directors, it's
sometimes called a shot,

263
00:15:06,820 --> 00:15:09,700
counter shot style.

264
00:15:09,700 --> 00:15:11,750
it's especially common
on American television,

265
00:15:11,750 --> 00:15:13,870
but it's common in the
movies too, in which, when

266
00:15:13,870 --> 00:15:15,930
you see characters
in conversation,

267
00:15:15,930 --> 00:15:17,970
you'll get relatively
rapid cutting.

268
00:15:17,970 --> 00:15:20,550
And you look at one face,
then the camera will shift,

269
00:15:20,550 --> 00:15:22,050
and you look back
at the other face.

270
00:15:22,050 --> 00:15:23,380
They'll be a cut, and
you'll look-- right?

271
00:15:23,380 --> 00:15:25,320
And you'll constantly
shift back and forth,

272
00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:27,980
this shot, counter shot style.

273
00:15:27,980 --> 00:15:31,290
But he, Renoir uses this
kind of style rarely,

274
00:15:31,290 --> 00:15:34,660
because first of all, it
involves the idea of cutting.

275
00:15:34,660 --> 00:15:36,180
It involves the
idea of separation.

276
00:15:36,180 --> 00:15:38,730
Why use shot/ counter
shot, Renoir would say,

277
00:15:38,730 --> 00:15:41,000
when I can move my camera
like this and show the two

278
00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:42,624
characters together?

279
00:15:42,624 --> 00:15:44,040
And move it around
in another way,

280
00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:46,020
and show the back of one
character's head, and the way

281
00:15:46,020 --> 00:15:46,936
the other is reacting.

282
00:15:46,936 --> 00:15:48,810
In other words, if
the camera's part

283
00:15:48,810 --> 00:15:51,660
of the action, a fluid
part of the action,

284
00:15:51,660 --> 00:15:54,250
I can show you more about
character, Renoir would say.

285
00:15:54,250 --> 00:15:56,420
But in that particular
scene, he doesn't do it

286
00:15:56,420 --> 00:15:58,770
in this first
extended interview.

287
00:15:58,770 --> 00:16:01,360
It lasts about two
minutes and 45 seconds,

288
00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:03,360
and it uses 21 shots.

289
00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:06,790
21 separate shots in two
minutes and 45 seconds.

290
00:16:06,790 --> 00:16:11,390
For Renoir that's a
tremendous number of edits.

291
00:16:11,390 --> 00:16:13,280
and it why would he do it there?

292
00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:16,360
Because it's very unusual
for him to use this shot,

293
00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:17,780
counter shot style in the film.

294
00:16:17,780 --> 00:16:18,670
Why would he do it?

295
00:16:18,670 --> 00:16:20,610
He wants to emphasize
their separation,

296
00:16:20,610 --> 00:16:24,730
their isolation from each other,
their distance from each other.

297
00:16:24,730 --> 00:16:27,850
And there is a later
see in the film,

298
00:16:27,850 --> 00:16:34,650
near the very end of the
film, again between Boeldieu

299
00:16:34,650 --> 00:16:36,570
and another character.

300
00:16:36,570 --> 00:16:39,110
But this one between the
Boeldieu and Marechal,

301
00:16:39,110 --> 00:16:43,230
the French working class figure
who's on the French side,

302
00:16:43,230 --> 00:16:45,660
just before there's
an attempted escape.

303
00:16:45,660 --> 00:16:48,730
And that scene is almost
as long, two minutes

304
00:16:48,730 --> 00:16:50,870
and 20 seconds long,
but that scene only

305
00:16:50,870 --> 00:16:53,140
has three separate edits in it.

306
00:16:53,140 --> 00:16:54,220
And you might compare it.

307
00:16:54,220 --> 00:16:55,950
The farewell scene is
a very obvious one,

308
00:16:55,950 --> 00:16:58,370
and you'll recognize
it when you see it.

309
00:16:58,370 --> 00:16:59,960
and, of course, the
reason is that he

310
00:16:59,960 --> 00:17:02,340
wants to emphasize,
insofar as it's possible,

311
00:17:02,340 --> 00:17:04,020
that they are together.

312
00:17:04,020 --> 00:17:07,960
He wants to minimize the sense
of isolation in that sequence.

313
00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:09,960
Again, I mention
this because I want

314
00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:12,010
you to become as
attentive as possible,

315
00:17:12,010 --> 00:17:14,420
without destroying your
enjoyment of the film,

316
00:17:14,420 --> 00:17:16,124
to the camera's way of behaving.

317
00:17:19,490 --> 00:17:21,069
to summarize what
I'm trying to say

318
00:17:21,069 --> 00:17:23,040
about the way the
camera works in Renoir,

319
00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:27,369
I want to remind you that,
even in his darkest films,

320
00:17:27,369 --> 00:17:31,320
his camera work carries an
undercurrent of excitement,

321
00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:35,290
even sometimes a kind of joy
at the sheer particularness,

322
00:17:35,290 --> 00:17:38,690
the particularity of the world.

323
00:17:38,690 --> 00:17:44,240
you can sense his awareness of
human ambiguity and his wonder

324
00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:47,530
at the texture of
the visible world

325
00:17:47,530 --> 00:17:52,570
all through his films of
his so-called French period.

326
00:17:52,570 --> 00:17:54,410
And especially in
the film you're

327
00:17:54,410 --> 00:17:57,380
going to see tonight, which is
in many ways in environments

328
00:17:57,380 --> 00:18:00,180
that are very unpoetic right?

329
00:18:00,180 --> 00:18:03,110
The entire film takes place
in a series of prison camps.

330
00:18:03,110 --> 00:18:06,270
The entire film is about
these French prisoners of war.

331
00:18:06,270 --> 00:18:08,426
There is an
introduction or prologue

332
00:18:08,426 --> 00:18:09,800
before they're
captured, and then

333
00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:11,240
after they're
captured we see them

334
00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:14,950
in a series of prison camps.

335
00:18:14,950 --> 00:18:18,720
it's quite an amazing
experience, in some ways,

336
00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:21,060
to watch Renoir's
camera discover

337
00:18:21,060 --> 00:18:27,620
the complexity of a world
that seems, on the surface,

338
00:18:27,620 --> 00:18:30,770
to be so unpromising,
and so uninteresting,

339
00:18:30,770 --> 00:18:31,970
so lacking in texture.

340
00:18:34,690 --> 00:18:39,200
we can think of Renoir's camera
as shy, timid in a sense.

341
00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:41,320
Capable of embarrassment, even.

342
00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:43,790
There's one moment in the
Rules of the Game which partly

343
00:18:43,790 --> 00:18:48,090
involves a force
dimension, so that when

344
00:18:48,090 --> 00:18:54,190
all the guests in the
great estate or castle

345
00:18:54,190 --> 00:18:55,480
go to sleep at night.

346
00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:58,070
They sort of come
out of their rooms,

347
00:18:58,070 --> 00:19:01,270
and start changing bed
partners and things like that.

348
00:19:01,270 --> 00:19:02,710
they have various liaisons.

349
00:19:02,710 --> 00:19:06,050
And there's a moment when the
camera is in this long hallway,

350
00:19:06,050 --> 00:19:08,987
and one of the lovers comes
out to meet another lover,

351
00:19:08,987 --> 00:19:10,570
and it looks as if
the camera actually

352
00:19:10,570 --> 00:19:13,540
backs away in embarrassment,
and looks away as if it says,

353
00:19:13,540 --> 00:19:16,330
oh, that's inappropriate
for me to be looking at.

354
00:19:16,330 --> 00:19:20,670
The camera is humanized in
a very subtle, quiet way all

355
00:19:20,670 --> 00:19:24,120
the way through Renoir's work.

356
00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:27,150
So we think of his camera
as shy, as embarrassed,

357
00:19:27,150 --> 00:19:30,555
reluctant to overhear,
or to intrude.

358
00:19:30,555 --> 00:19:31,930
There are even
moments when it is

359
00:19:31,930 --> 00:19:36,560
distracted, or drawn toward an
apparently irrelevant element.

360
00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:38,630
Times when the camera
hesitates, or even

361
00:19:38,630 --> 00:19:40,750
appears to change its mind.

362
00:19:40,750 --> 00:19:43,450
An uncertain camera,
then, always adjusting

363
00:19:43,450 --> 00:19:47,070
to a world that is, itself,
always shifting and changing.

364
00:19:47,070 --> 00:19:48,900
And of course, that's
the deepest argument

365
00:19:48,900 --> 00:19:51,860
for why the camera
is so restless.

366
00:19:51,860 --> 00:19:53,550
remember, it's not obtrusive.

367
00:19:53,550 --> 00:19:56,290
it's not like to feel the camera
swinging wildly, not at all.

368
00:19:56,290 --> 00:19:58,414
You have to pay attention,
sometimes you won't even

369
00:19:58,414 --> 00:20:00,640
be aware of the
fact of how quietly

370
00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:03,380
and simply the camera-- but
it's as if the camera is always

371
00:20:03,380 --> 00:20:04,500
making adjustments.

372
00:20:04,500 --> 00:20:08,680
As if it's always alive to the
changing character of what it's

373
00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:12,340
looking at, and that very
aliveness reminds you

374
00:20:12,340 --> 00:20:14,920
of how complex reality
is, because reality

375
00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:16,895
itself is always
shifting and changing.

376
00:20:22,790 --> 00:20:24,710
This describes, I
think, something of what

377
00:20:24,710 --> 00:20:26,660
is meant by Renoir's realism.

378
00:20:26,660 --> 00:20:29,560
But there's a kind of lyric
element, as I've mentioned,

379
00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:33,290
even a kind of tranquility,
or pleasure, or joy.

380
00:20:33,290 --> 00:20:36,970
Celebratory impulse in his
camera's gaze that qualifies,

381
00:20:36,970 --> 00:20:40,050
or sweeteners, his realism
of space and character,

382
00:20:40,050 --> 00:20:42,040
and we need to be
aware of that too.

383
00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:44,230
One way to crystallize
this is to suggest

384
00:20:44,230 --> 00:20:46,860
that once we become
attuned to the camera's

385
00:20:46,860 --> 00:20:49,630
forms of attention--
that's a good phrase,

386
00:20:49,630 --> 00:20:52,349
the camera's forms of attention.

387
00:20:52,349 --> 00:20:53,890
There's a wonderful
book about poetry

388
00:20:53,890 --> 00:20:56,290
called forms of attention.

389
00:20:56,290 --> 00:20:59,960
Lyric poetry is what constitutes
a special kind of attention.

390
00:20:59,960 --> 00:21:04,710
We can say that Renoir's
camera is engaged constantly

391
00:21:04,710 --> 00:21:05,910
in these forms of attention.

392
00:21:08,570 --> 00:21:12,380
Once we become aware of that, of
the camera's interest in that,

393
00:21:12,380 --> 00:21:16,000
we become aware of a quiet
continuous struggle, a loving

394
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:19,520
contest almost, between the
multiple points of interest

395
00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:24,020
in the scene, and the camera's
reluctant gently hesitant

396
00:21:24,020 --> 00:21:25,390
choices.

397
00:21:25,390 --> 00:21:28,110
The menu of things
to see and hear,

398
00:21:28,110 --> 00:21:32,850
Renoir's films keep
telling us, is too rich

399
00:21:32,850 --> 00:21:36,510
to be fully captured,
even by the most eye.

400
00:21:36,510 --> 00:21:37,900
And that's what
I mean when I say

401
00:21:37,900 --> 00:21:40,670
that visual style
can be understood

402
00:21:40,670 --> 00:21:42,180
as a form of moral style.

403
00:21:44,740 --> 00:21:48,880
I want to say a few more words
about Grand Illusion, itself,

404
00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:51,690
to help frame your
experience of it.

405
00:21:51,690 --> 00:21:54,350
It's not a complex film, but
it's a deep and beautiful one,

406
00:21:54,350 --> 00:21:57,170
and I think you'll all
find it very memorable.

407
00:21:57,170 --> 00:22:00,190
First a word about the actors.

408
00:22:00,190 --> 00:22:01,690
or maybe I should
say one other word

409
00:22:01,690 --> 00:22:05,590
about Renoir himself, because
it bears on his actors.

410
00:22:05,590 --> 00:22:08,520
As I implied, or I think,
suggested this afternoon,

411
00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:11,950
one of the most distinctive
features of Renoir's practice--

412
00:22:11,950 --> 00:22:13,830
if you think about the
way is camera behaves,

413
00:22:13,830 --> 00:22:17,750
you can see how logically
connected these elements are--

414
00:22:17,750 --> 00:22:19,790
was that he was an
improvisational director.

415
00:22:19,790 --> 00:22:22,860
He collaborated with his
actors, with this performers.

416
00:22:22,860 --> 00:22:26,610
He didn't come in with an
absolutely fixed script.

417
00:22:26,610 --> 00:22:28,740
he's like the anti-Hitchcock.

418
00:22:28,740 --> 00:22:30,420
Hitchcock has solved
all his problems

419
00:22:30,420 --> 00:22:32,720
before he's come in
to do is shooting,

420
00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:35,920
Renoir has just begun the
process of making his movie.

421
00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:37,610
he has an idea of
the subject matter,

422
00:22:37,610 --> 00:22:38,960
He knows what he's doing.

423
00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:41,700
I don't mean that he's
working completely blind,

424
00:22:41,700 --> 00:22:45,260
but he allows
discovery to take place

425
00:22:45,260 --> 00:22:48,100
in the course of the
making of his movies,

426
00:22:48,100 --> 00:22:50,650
and he's very deeply
involved in collaborating

427
00:22:50,650 --> 00:22:51,780
with this performers.

428
00:22:51,780 --> 00:22:54,810
So that, for example,
when he had already

429
00:22:54,810 --> 00:22:58,482
begun working on
the movie-- I don't

430
00:22:58,482 --> 00:23:00,940
think they'd begun shooting it
yet-- but they were very far

431
00:23:00,940 --> 00:23:03,690
along in creating the movie,
and in casting the movie,

432
00:23:03,690 --> 00:23:06,500
when they discovered that
Erich Von Strohein, who

433
00:23:06,500 --> 00:23:09,960
was that already by the
time this film was made,

434
00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,930
a very well known
actor and director.

435
00:23:12,930 --> 00:23:16,910
Much, in fact, incredibly
admired director

436
00:23:16,910 --> 00:23:22,030
--both an actor and a director,
agreed to join the film.

437
00:23:22,030 --> 00:23:23,680
And when he agreed
to join the film,

438
00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:25,860
he and Renoir began
to collaborate

439
00:23:25,860 --> 00:23:29,290
on expanding the role
that Von Strohein plays.

440
00:23:29,290 --> 00:23:33,840
And you'll understand what an
immensely helpful contribution

441
00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:37,140
to, what could we call it,
to the ecology of the movie,

442
00:23:37,140 --> 00:23:40,090
to the sense of the
movie Von Strohein made,

443
00:23:40,090 --> 00:23:44,040
because he's one of the
dominant characters.

444
00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:48,310
if we try to imagine Grand
Illusion with a much reduced

445
00:23:48,310 --> 00:23:50,270
role for the Von
Strohein character,

446
00:23:50,270 --> 00:23:52,020
it's a much lesser film.

447
00:23:52,020 --> 00:23:56,000
So you can recognize what an
extraordinary contribution Von

448
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:56,720
Strohein made.

449
00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:58,810
Now, he not only
made contributions

450
00:23:58,810 --> 00:24:01,510
to questions about the dialogue,
what the character would say,

451
00:24:01,510 --> 00:24:04,060
expanded the role, but even
made suggestions about how

452
00:24:04,060 --> 00:24:07,090
the character would look.

453
00:24:07,090 --> 00:24:08,980
How the character
would be costumed.

454
00:24:08,980 --> 00:24:13,350
I think it was Von Strohein
who emphasized, even more fully

455
00:24:13,350 --> 00:24:15,160
than Renoir had
originally intended,

456
00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:17,460
that the Von Strohein
character is a war casualty.

457
00:24:17,460 --> 00:24:20,200
That he has ram
rod up is back, he

458
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:22,820
has to wear gloves because
his hands are horribly burned.

459
00:24:22,820 --> 00:24:25,510
He's a cripple, and that's why
he's now running prison camps.

460
00:24:25,510 --> 00:24:28,130
Because he's not useful
for anything else, right?

461
00:24:28,130 --> 00:24:33,580
And there's the sense that he's
a damaged, wounded figure even

462
00:24:33,580 --> 00:24:38,460
from the very beginning of the
film, when we first meet him.

463
00:24:38,460 --> 00:24:40,210
So that's important
in itself, but there's

464
00:24:40,210 --> 00:24:41,640
a second thing
about Von Strohein

465
00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:43,100
that I want to emphasize to you.

466
00:24:43,100 --> 00:24:46,240
it shows you how
subtly Renoir was

467
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:48,740
aware of how he
could utilize all

468
00:24:48,740 --> 00:24:51,560
the elements available
to him as a filmmaker.

469
00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:54,410
Von Strohein was especially
well known as an actor,

470
00:24:54,410 --> 00:24:56,217
for roles in which
he would play--

471
00:24:56,217 --> 00:24:58,550
this was a special true in
roles he played in the United

472
00:24:58,550 --> 00:25:04,140
States-- in which he would play
a dangerous, scary martinet.

473
00:25:04,140 --> 00:25:07,410
There were even hints of
sadomasochism about the role

474
00:25:07,410 --> 00:25:07,910
sometimes.

475
00:25:07,910 --> 00:25:13,620
So he would play brutal
prison camp wardens, right?

476
00:25:13,620 --> 00:25:20,150
brutal police types, militarist
types, violent husbands.

477
00:25:20,150 --> 00:25:23,300
And, in fact, he was
understood, also, as a villain.

478
00:25:23,300 --> 00:25:26,660
He often played roles that
were recognizably evil roles.

479
00:25:26,660 --> 00:25:29,330
He came to be known as
the man you love to hate.

480
00:25:29,330 --> 00:25:35,240
That was like a sort of motto
that was attached to his name.

481
00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:37,259
And, when you want
your Grand Illusion,

482
00:25:37,259 --> 00:25:39,050
one of the things I
hope you'll think about

483
00:25:39,050 --> 00:25:44,595
is the complex way in which
that inherited idea of the Von

484
00:25:44,595 --> 00:25:47,860
Strohein character is
complicated, undermined,

485
00:25:47,860 --> 00:25:48,990
and humanized.

486
00:25:48,990 --> 00:25:52,090
Because, in many ways, he still
is the villain in the piece,

487
00:25:52,090 --> 00:25:54,230
but he's a humanized villain.

488
00:25:54,230 --> 00:26:00,740
he becomes a complex character,
as much a victim of history

489
00:26:00,740 --> 00:26:03,480
as any of the other
characters in the film.

490
00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:08,630
So there's a sense in which,
what Renoir and Von Strohein,

491
00:26:08,630 --> 00:26:11,505
together, are doing is
taking the persona that Von

492
00:26:11,505 --> 00:26:14,860
Strohein had established, and
undercutting it, undermining it

493
00:26:14,860 --> 00:26:18,240
in some slight way, creating
a much greater resonance

494
00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,440
for the character, exactly
because of the ways in which he

495
00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:25,400
first that appears to fulfill
the expectations that he's

496
00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:28,350
an evil villain, and
then as the film goes on,

497
00:26:28,350 --> 00:26:30,700
this sense is
undermined, complicated,

498
00:26:30,700 --> 00:26:35,290
and you realize he's a
human being with powers

499
00:26:35,290 --> 00:26:39,340
of generosity, although
also certain limitations.

500
00:26:39,340 --> 00:26:42,280
he's a German, he's
prejudiced, he doesn't really

501
00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:43,960
like the French,
especially doesn't

502
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:48,640
like working class people, most
especially doesn't like Jews.

503
00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:50,470
he's an imperfect
character, but you

504
00:26:50,470 --> 00:26:52,400
see this he's deeply humanized.

505
00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:54,030
And something of the
same kind of thing

506
00:26:54,030 --> 00:26:58,610
happens in the film's treatment
of the Jean Gabin character.

507
00:26:58,610 --> 00:27:01,590
He's the character who plays
Marechal, the actor who

508
00:27:01,590 --> 00:27:05,370
plays Marechal, the working
class Frenchman who,

509
00:27:05,370 --> 00:27:14,680
along with de Boeldieu and
the Jew played by Dalio,

510
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:16,560
a character called Rosenthal.

511
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:19,330
These three are the
central French characters,

512
00:27:19,330 --> 00:27:21,710
and we see them moving from
prison camp to prison camp

513
00:27:21,710 --> 00:27:23,270
through the film.

514
00:27:23,270 --> 00:27:25,970
that group is the central
group of the film.

515
00:27:25,970 --> 00:27:28,530
We follow them as
the film goes on.

516
00:27:28,530 --> 00:27:32,530
The Gabin character too, was,
in many ways, the most famous

517
00:27:32,530 --> 00:27:36,050
actor, if not in Europe,
certainly and France

518
00:27:36,050 --> 00:27:38,130
of the late '20s and '30s.

519
00:27:38,130 --> 00:27:40,200
major, major figure.

520
00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:43,960
and he was especially associated
with working class roles.

521
00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:44,460
,

522
00:27:44,460 --> 00:27:47,040
And, most especially
associated with roles--

523
00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:49,220
he was like an early
Jack Nicholson.

524
00:27:49,220 --> 00:27:52,320
An even more powerful version
of it, because he became famous

525
00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:54,180
for these moments
in the films when

526
00:27:54,180 --> 00:27:56,950
he would go nuts, when he would
have a fit, when he would start

527
00:27:56,950 --> 00:27:59,370
screaming, or he would lose it.

528
00:27:59,370 --> 00:28:03,220
He would rant or rave.

529
00:28:03,220 --> 00:28:06,590
In some films he was in he would
have a climactic scene-- this

530
00:28:06,590 --> 00:28:10,490
may be, in fact, where
the stereotype began-- he

531
00:28:10,490 --> 00:28:11,810
would have a climactic scene.

532
00:28:11,810 --> 00:28:16,790
Often he would be a suicidal
proletarian, a suicidal worker

533
00:28:16,790 --> 00:28:19,340
up against the
forces of capitalism,

534
00:28:19,340 --> 00:28:20,950
or the forces of the police.

535
00:28:20,950 --> 00:28:22,880
The Gabin character
had frequent roles

536
00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:27,630
like this, in which
he would essentially

537
00:28:27,630 --> 00:28:30,070
lose all rational control,
and rant, and rave,

538
00:28:30,070 --> 00:28:33,010
and scream, sometimes die.

539
00:28:33,010 --> 00:28:34,880
he was so famous
for this, and this

540
00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:37,120
was such a fundamental
part of his persona,

541
00:28:37,120 --> 00:28:40,560
that he had written into
most of his contracts

542
00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:42,726
that he had to have a
scene which he did this.

543
00:28:42,726 --> 00:28:44,100
He had to have at
least one scene

544
00:28:44,100 --> 00:28:45,840
in the film in which
he sort of went

545
00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:48,960
Cucamonga, in which he lost it.

546
00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,570
Now, one of the most subtle
things about this film

547
00:28:51,570 --> 00:28:53,240
is, there is such a
moment in this film.

548
00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:55,470
Watch for it, because
it's so quiet compared

549
00:28:55,470 --> 00:28:57,690
to what you might expect,
that you might miss it.

550
00:28:57,690 --> 00:28:58,990
But it's really there.

551
00:28:58,990 --> 00:29:02,130
And in fact, the way in which
it both fulfills, but also

552
00:29:02,130 --> 00:29:05,900
undermines, our expectations
about this character,

553
00:29:05,900 --> 00:29:08,650
again, tells us
something about the way

554
00:29:08,650 --> 00:29:11,210
in which Renoir and his
collaborating actors

555
00:29:11,210 --> 00:29:16,810
were able to create
immensely nuanced meanings,

556
00:29:16,810 --> 00:29:21,060
possibilities, out
on the raw material,

557
00:29:21,060 --> 00:29:22,650
not only of the
story of the film,

558
00:29:22,650 --> 00:29:24,316
and of the setting
of the film, but even

559
00:29:24,316 --> 00:29:27,630
the past history
of the performers.

560
00:29:27,630 --> 00:29:29,350
I want to say just
a couple of things

561
00:29:29,350 --> 00:29:32,290
about some of the
dominant themes

562
00:29:32,290 --> 00:29:36,000
in the film to help organize
your experience of it.

563
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:38,390
And I'm borrowing
here, or deeply

564
00:29:38,390 --> 00:29:42,280
influenced here, by
two critics especially,

565
00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:44,880
or perhaps I should
say parenthetically.

566
00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:48,930
You should probably assume
that almost anything I say

567
00:29:48,930 --> 00:29:52,850
has been said by someone else
at some time in the past.

568
00:29:52,850 --> 00:29:55,080
the job of a teacher,
as I conceive it,

569
00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:57,890
is not to come up with totally
original arguments every time,

570
00:29:57,890 --> 00:29:59,660
because no one
can be so original

571
00:29:59,660 --> 00:30:01,300
as to say everything
that's wonderful

572
00:30:01,300 --> 00:30:04,210
about particular texts, or
about a whole phenomenon

573
00:30:04,210 --> 00:30:05,420
like the movies.

574
00:30:05,420 --> 00:30:08,010
So a good teacher draws on that.

575
00:30:08,010 --> 00:30:11,550
When I really am drawing
on a prior scholar, who

576
00:30:11,550 --> 00:30:14,740
I know has shaped the
arguments I'm making,

577
00:30:14,740 --> 00:30:17,270
or has given me the
categories I'm using,

578
00:30:17,270 --> 00:30:18,594
I mention them by name.

579
00:30:18,594 --> 00:30:20,510
But, of course, I've
been teaching for so long

580
00:30:20,510 --> 00:30:24,480
that much of this must not
be unconsciously absorbed

581
00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:26,760
into my psyche, and I
don't always know this,

582
00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:28,932
so I'm not saying that
those moments where

583
00:30:28,932 --> 00:30:30,390
I haven't made this
acknowledgement

584
00:30:30,390 --> 00:30:31,870
are free of such influence.

585
00:30:31,870 --> 00:30:32,900
Quite the opposite.

586
00:30:32,900 --> 00:30:35,490
But I do want to mention two
scholars who have especially

587
00:30:35,490 --> 00:30:40,730
influenced me on Renoir, because
virtually all the things I've

588
00:30:40,730 --> 00:30:43,550
told you about Renoir, though
I've made the ideas my own,

589
00:30:43,550 --> 00:30:44,700
come from these.

590
00:30:44,700 --> 00:30:49,590
One is a Frenchman named
Alexander Sesonske.

591
00:30:49,590 --> 00:30:53,890
And he wrote a wonderful book,
I think a several volume book,

592
00:30:53,890 --> 00:30:57,760
on Renoir that taught me a
tremendous amount, especially

593
00:30:57,760 --> 00:30:59,870
about his French period.

594
00:30:59,870 --> 00:31:05,480
And the other is the,
now California scholar,

595
00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:07,520
Leo Braudy, one of
whose essays I've asked

596
00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:08,930
you to read in this course.

597
00:31:08,930 --> 00:31:11,830
He's written a wonderful
book on Renoir.

598
00:31:11,830 --> 00:31:13,430
And, although I
have read the book,

599
00:31:13,430 --> 00:31:17,010
I learned more about Renoir
from Braudy in conversation,

600
00:31:17,010 --> 00:31:19,940
because he was my colleague many
years ago when we were teaching

601
00:31:19,940 --> 00:31:21,830
together in the English
department at Yale,

602
00:31:21,830 --> 00:31:23,640
and he's one of the
people who turned me

603
00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:27,180
into a person interested and
movies, interested in film.

604
00:31:27,180 --> 00:31:31,650
So, Leo Braudy, B-R-A-U-D-Y,
Alexander Sesonske,

605
00:31:31,650 --> 00:31:39,700
S-E-S-O-N-S-K-E, the two
principal scholars and critics

606
00:31:39,700 --> 00:31:43,020
behind what I've been saying,
both this afternoon and this

607
00:31:43,020 --> 00:31:44,770
evening.

608
00:31:44,770 --> 00:31:46,000
Dominant themes.

609
00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:46,610
One.

610
00:31:46,610 --> 00:31:49,750
The prison camp as a microcosm.

611
00:31:49,750 --> 00:31:51,730
There's a wonderful
passage, at one point

612
00:31:51,730 --> 00:31:55,990
in the movie, where one of
the character's said "everyone

613
00:31:55,990 --> 00:31:58,860
would die of the
disease of his class,

614
00:31:58,860 --> 00:32:02,820
if the war did not
reconcile all microbes".

615
00:32:02,820 --> 00:32:04,970
think about the
implications of that.

616
00:32:04,970 --> 00:32:08,120
the idea is that one of the
things that makes this prison

617
00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:12,890
camp such a fascinating place
is that it is, in some sense,

618
00:32:12,890 --> 00:32:16,600
a microcosm of the larger world.

619
00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:19,540
and especially if you
think of the prison camp

620
00:32:19,540 --> 00:32:24,400
beyond just the grouping
of the French soldiers,

621
00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:26,870
the French prisoners
who we follow primarily,

622
00:32:26,870 --> 00:32:29,620
what you can recognize if you
back away, because we are told

623
00:32:29,620 --> 00:32:32,080
about, or we meet, and
we see briefly some

624
00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:33,520
of the other prisoners.

625
00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:38,550
There are Russian prisoners
and there's other kinds

626
00:32:38,550 --> 00:32:39,730
of prisoners as well.

627
00:32:39,730 --> 00:32:43,400
There's a sense that the prison
camp is a kind of microcosm,

628
00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:46,430
at least of Europe, if not
of the world as a whole.

629
00:32:46,430 --> 00:32:49,730
And, more specifically, the
way in which the prison camp

630
00:32:49,730 --> 00:32:52,820
is a microcosm for
the social striations

631
00:32:52,820 --> 00:32:54,940
that organize outer society.

632
00:32:54,940 --> 00:32:58,610
There's a working class, there
seems to be a middle class,

633
00:32:58,610 --> 00:33:01,690
you'll notice that
there's a scholar who

634
00:33:01,690 --> 00:33:08,660
has a copy of Pindar, the great
ancient poet, who treasures

635
00:33:08,660 --> 00:33:11,230
his work on Pindar-- he's one
of my favorite minor characters

636
00:33:11,230 --> 00:33:12,840
in the film because
of his commitment

637
00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:15,510
to literature despite the
war, and despite the miseries

638
00:33:15,510 --> 00:33:18,140
of prison camp.

639
00:33:18,140 --> 00:33:20,470
And what you can see
is, in a certain sense,

640
00:33:20,470 --> 00:33:24,580
that Renoir is delighted by the
idea that a kind of microcosm

641
00:33:24,580 --> 00:33:25,360
is created.

642
00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:29,120
And if you watch the variations
amongst the Frenchmen,

643
00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:32,050
and again, if you think about
that fragment of a scene I

644
00:33:32,050 --> 00:33:34,660
showed you this afternoon,
of these characters at dinner

645
00:33:34,660 --> 00:33:38,310
table in the in the
prison camp, you'll

646
00:33:38,310 --> 00:33:43,070
begin to see more fully how
powerfully and interestingly,

647
00:33:43,070 --> 00:33:46,925
complexly, he differentiates
his characters from each other.

648
00:33:46,925 --> 00:33:48,300
Now That fragment
that you saw, I

649
00:33:48,300 --> 00:33:51,780
hope you realized one of
the characters was an actor.

650
00:33:51,780 --> 00:33:53,880
It becomes clearer if you
watch the whole scene,

651
00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:56,640
but he's a very histrionic
and theatrical character,

652
00:33:56,640 --> 00:33:58,769
he bursts into song
all the time, right?

653
00:33:58,769 --> 00:34:00,310
And then there's
the aristocrat who's

654
00:34:00,310 --> 00:34:04,360
looking down his monocle
very, very austerely

655
00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:11,360
and his lip seems curled
in a permanent gesture

656
00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:13,420
of condescension.

657
00:34:13,420 --> 00:34:14,520
And so forth.

658
00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:18,300
Watch how richly, how
complexly, the characters are

659
00:34:18,300 --> 00:34:20,969
distinguished from each
other by social class,

660
00:34:20,969 --> 00:34:23,630
by profession, and so forth.

661
00:34:23,630 --> 00:34:27,070
I don't want to romanticize
or idealize this argument,

662
00:34:27,070 --> 00:34:28,570
because I'm not
suggesting that when

663
00:34:28,570 --> 00:34:30,800
he says it's a
microcosm of the world,

664
00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:32,850
he wants to celebrate
that microcosm,

665
00:34:32,850 --> 00:34:35,070
although he's interested in it.

666
00:34:35,070 --> 00:34:37,690
Renoir is also aware
of the limitations.

667
00:34:37,690 --> 00:34:39,639
it's not as if he's
suggesting that this

668
00:34:39,639 --> 00:34:41,600
is a perfect community at all.

669
00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:43,630
One reason is, they're
forced together,

670
00:34:43,630 --> 00:34:45,960
but they're being
forced together

671
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:48,428
makes them share,
forces them to come out

672
00:34:48,428 --> 00:34:49,969
of their limitations
in certain ways,

673
00:34:49,969 --> 00:34:52,280
to overcome certain
of their prejudices,

674
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:53,900
although night never fully.

675
00:34:53,900 --> 00:34:56,100
But what it also
does is reveal them.

676
00:34:56,100 --> 00:34:59,960
And we can and we can
see how both processes--

677
00:34:59,960 --> 00:35:04,310
the process of adjusting to
people different from yourself,

678
00:35:04,310 --> 00:35:06,450
and maybe overcoming
some of your class

679
00:35:06,450 --> 00:35:10,110
or racial prejudices-- is
a part of the experience

680
00:35:10,110 --> 00:35:11,730
that the characters
in the film have,

681
00:35:11,730 --> 00:35:12,900
but another part
of the experience

682
00:35:12,900 --> 00:35:15,670
is that they come up against the
differences between them, some

683
00:35:15,670 --> 00:35:17,670
of which can never be breached.

684
00:35:17,670 --> 00:35:21,720
Let me mention one scene which
dramatizes this ambiguity very

685
00:35:21,720 --> 00:35:22,580
deeply.

686
00:35:22,580 --> 00:35:27,510
There's one moment in the film,
very powerful moment I think,

687
00:35:27,510 --> 00:35:31,750
in which the character
played by Gabin,

688
00:35:31,750 --> 00:35:33,480
the Marechal
character is wounded

689
00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:36,050
in a early part of the film.

690
00:35:36,050 --> 00:35:38,870
in fact, in the dinner
scene that I showed you

691
00:35:38,870 --> 00:35:41,720
this afternoon, you'll see
that, at a certain point,

692
00:35:41,720 --> 00:35:44,310
his comrade sitting at the
table cuts his meat for him

693
00:35:44,310 --> 00:35:45,920
because his hand is injured.

694
00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:48,640
And, I don't know if it's in
this scene or subsequent scene,

695
00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:50,940
there's a moment when
another character in the film

696
00:35:50,940 --> 00:35:53,540
washes Marechal's feet.

697
00:35:53,540 --> 00:35:57,790
Why is foot washing
instantly a symbolic thing?

698
00:35:57,790 --> 00:35:59,336
Who knows the answer?

699
00:35:59,336 --> 00:36:01,320
AUDIENCE: Cause, like,
Mary washed Jesus' feet.

700
00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:02,195
PROFESSOR: All right.

701
00:36:02,195 --> 00:36:06,040
There's a scene in the Bible,
in the 12th chapter of John,

702
00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:09,400
in which Mary or Martha,
I can't remember which,

703
00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:11,050
washes Christ's feet.

704
00:36:11,050 --> 00:36:14,690
And then, in the
very next chapter,

705
00:36:14,690 --> 00:36:17,050
at The Last Supper
Christ, himself,

706
00:36:17,050 --> 00:36:19,390
washes the feet
of his disciples.

707
00:36:19,390 --> 00:36:23,830
And in fact, the washing
of feet is, in Catholic

708
00:36:23,830 --> 00:36:27,340
and in certain other
Christian rituals,

709
00:36:27,340 --> 00:36:29,181
an actual official ritual.

710
00:36:29,181 --> 00:36:31,180
It used to be much more
common than it is today,

711
00:36:31,180 --> 00:36:34,800
but it's still done in
certain Catholic countries

712
00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:38,720
at the advent of Holy Week.

713
00:36:38,720 --> 00:36:41,550
so it's a deeply symbolic act
in which Christ, himself, is

714
00:36:41,550 --> 00:36:43,580
washing the feet
of his disciples,

715
00:36:43,580 --> 00:36:45,760
and the message he
gives is everyone,

716
00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:49,100
you should now do
this to your Fellows.

717
00:36:49,100 --> 00:36:52,930
The implication being no one
is better than anyone else.

718
00:36:52,930 --> 00:36:58,760
a radically democratic invasion,
in some sense, of God's love.

719
00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:02,190
And where has this practice been
recently, very dramatically,

720
00:37:02,190 --> 00:37:03,310
and publicly revived?

721
00:37:03,310 --> 00:37:04,860
Who's been doing it?

722
00:37:04,860 --> 00:37:06,240
The Pope, the new pope.

723
00:37:06,240 --> 00:37:07,680
Haven't you read about this?

724
00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:10,920
The new pope has been
doing this, washing

725
00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:14,940
the feet of parishioners,
a symbolic gesture in which

726
00:37:14,940 --> 00:37:18,470
God's emissary on
earth is behaving

727
00:37:18,470 --> 00:37:21,740
with the humility that
Jesus Christ, himself would.

728
00:37:21,740 --> 00:37:28,790
So the foot washing scene in our
film has this sort of resonance

729
00:37:28,790 --> 00:37:32,220
to it, even though there's no
openly religious reference.

730
00:37:32,220 --> 00:37:34,400
but it has a similar
kind of significance.

731
00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:37,440
And they are carrying on
a kind of conversation

732
00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:38,970
as the feet are being washed.

733
00:37:38,970 --> 00:37:43,186
And what you feel is,
boy, what a moving scene.

734
00:37:43,186 --> 00:37:44,810
the man who's doing
the washing doesn't

735
00:37:44,810 --> 00:37:46,970
feel that he's being
condescended to,

736
00:37:46,970 --> 00:37:49,852
or that he's being diminished
in any way by doing it.

737
00:37:49,852 --> 00:37:51,310
The man whose feet
are being washed

738
00:37:51,310 --> 00:37:53,070
is not embarrassed
to have it happen.

739
00:37:53,070 --> 00:37:56,060
What a scene of
solidarity and community.

740
00:37:56,060 --> 00:38:00,780
And you could wax
very poetic about what

741
00:38:00,780 --> 00:38:03,820
a scene of community, and
yet, watch how the scene ends.

742
00:38:03,820 --> 00:38:09,900
There's a moment at which,
as he's drying his feet,

743
00:38:09,900 --> 00:38:14,125
Marechal asks the foot washer,
what do you do for a living?

744
00:38:14,125 --> 00:38:15,750
at some point during
their conversation

745
00:38:15,750 --> 00:38:20,570
he says I am a cadastre.

746
00:38:20,570 --> 00:38:22,710
What that means is something
like city planning.

747
00:38:22,710 --> 00:38:24,020
He's a city planner.

748
00:38:24,020 --> 00:38:26,730
And so the Marechal character
hears this and they go on,

749
00:38:26,730 --> 00:38:28,899
at the very end of
the scene, Marechal

750
00:38:28,899 --> 00:38:30,440
turns to his foot
washer and he says,

751
00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:33,030
what does that mean, cadastre?

752
00:38:33,030 --> 00:38:35,320
The implication being
that they're vocabularies

753
00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:36,830
aren't even the same.

754
00:38:36,830 --> 00:38:39,114
what it dramatizes is the
distance between them.

755
00:38:39,114 --> 00:38:41,530
He's been sitting there having
this conversation with him,

756
00:38:41,530 --> 00:38:42,946
but he didn't even
say, gee I have

757
00:38:42,946 --> 00:38:44,720
no idea what that word
means, I certainly

758
00:38:44,720 --> 00:38:46,440
have no idea what
you do for a living.

759
00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:49,260
It's a way of reminding us,
yes they've come together,

760
00:38:49,260 --> 00:38:51,550
yes they're sharing
space, yes they're

761
00:38:51,550 --> 00:38:56,070
doing something that
dramatizes human solidarity,

762
00:38:56,070 --> 00:38:58,440
and yet also how
separated they are.

763
00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:00,000
Again and again in
the film we have

764
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:05,390
this sort of double experience,
in which we see characters

765
00:39:05,390 --> 00:39:08,540
make contact with each other, or
even sacrifice for each other,

766
00:39:08,540 --> 00:39:11,370
and at the same time we're
aware of their differences.

767
00:39:11,370 --> 00:39:12,060
Watch for this.

768
00:39:12,060 --> 00:39:13,510
It's very powerful and moving.

769
00:39:13,510 --> 00:39:16,990
It's a form of moral realism,
in which the film refuses

770
00:39:16,990 --> 00:39:21,450
to simplify what it wants to
say about human experience.

771
00:39:21,450 --> 00:39:23,980
Very powerful example of
this in the relationship

772
00:39:23,980 --> 00:39:27,410
between the Jew, Rosenthal,
who's proud of his wealth,

773
00:39:27,410 --> 00:39:30,390
he's the heir of a
department store fortune.

774
00:39:30,390 --> 00:39:33,960
but because he's a Jew, and
because he's nouveau rich,

775
00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:37,340
he can never be part
of the aristocracy,

776
00:39:37,340 --> 00:39:40,110
his relation to the Marechal
character's very complex.

777
00:39:40,110 --> 00:39:42,240
Marechal, as I mentioned
this afternoon,

778
00:39:42,240 --> 00:39:46,420
retains a kind of French
working class characteristic

779
00:39:46,420 --> 00:39:47,590
antisemitism.

780
00:39:47,590 --> 00:39:49,650
And there are moments
when you can feel

781
00:39:49,650 --> 00:39:51,260
the hostility between them.

782
00:39:51,260 --> 00:39:53,509
When the two of them finally
try to make an escape

783
00:39:53,509 --> 00:39:55,300
from the prison, and
they actually are away

784
00:39:55,300 --> 00:39:56,800
from one of the
prisons for a while,

785
00:39:56,800 --> 00:39:59,810
and you see the Rosenthal
character hurts his foot.

786
00:39:59,810 --> 00:40:01,900
And there's a moment in
which it looks like, gee,

787
00:40:01,900 --> 00:40:04,190
if the Marechal
character stays with him,

788
00:40:04,190 --> 00:40:06,120
he's putting himself
in danger as well.

789
00:40:06,120 --> 00:40:08,790
And they get into a fight.

790
00:40:08,790 --> 00:40:11,900
And Rosenthal says, go
away, leave me alone!

791
00:40:11,900 --> 00:40:13,782
And Marechal says,
all right I will!

792
00:40:13,782 --> 00:40:15,490
it's a very wonderful
scene, because they

793
00:40:15,490 --> 00:40:17,140
start singing at each other.

794
00:40:17,140 --> 00:40:19,180
it's a form of
singing hostility.

795
00:40:19,180 --> 00:40:20,950
So there's a comic
dimension to it.

796
00:40:20,950 --> 00:40:21,940
it's really rich.

797
00:40:21,940 --> 00:40:23,880
But what is also
being dramatized

798
00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:27,570
there are the limitations
of the characters.

799
00:40:27,570 --> 00:40:31,350
Marechal's antisemitism
rises, comes to the surface.

800
00:40:31,350 --> 00:40:32,850
Their hostility
toward each other

801
00:40:32,850 --> 00:40:34,350
comes to the surface
at that moment,

802
00:40:34,350 --> 00:40:36,310
although of course,
they also overcome it.

803
00:40:36,310 --> 00:40:39,140
And there are many other
such moments in the film.

804
00:40:39,140 --> 00:40:41,160
The relationship
between de Boeldieu

805
00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:48,140
and his German counterpart,
the aristocratic German,

806
00:40:48,140 --> 00:40:52,090
is also a version of
this kind of thing.

807
00:40:52,090 --> 00:40:54,580
as I've already implied,
a second central theme

808
00:40:54,580 --> 00:40:56,540
of the film has to
do with what we might

809
00:40:56,540 --> 00:40:59,550
call barriers and boundaries.

810
00:40:59,550 --> 00:41:01,310
There's the barrier
of social class,

811
00:41:01,310 --> 00:41:02,730
which I've mentioned already.

812
00:41:02,730 --> 00:41:05,930
There's the barrier of
language and culture, right?

813
00:41:05,930 --> 00:41:08,650
The Germans and the
French are at war.

814
00:41:08,650 --> 00:41:11,160
The Russians don't speak the
same language as the Germans,

815
00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:14,150
the English don't speak the
same language as the French.

816
00:41:14,150 --> 00:41:18,150
again and again what separates
people is dramatized for us,

817
00:41:18,150 --> 00:41:20,640
although there's also a
longing the film to transcend

818
00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:23,970
these boundaries, they
can't always be transcended.

819
00:41:23,970 --> 00:41:25,670
Sometimes these
boundaries are shown

820
00:41:25,670 --> 00:41:31,145
to be foolish and trivial,
or at best, unhelpful.

821
00:41:35,220 --> 00:41:38,080
there are many examples in
the film, both of language

822
00:41:38,080 --> 00:41:40,330
and of geography, as
well as of social class,

823
00:41:40,330 --> 00:41:43,002
but let me mention
just two of them,

824
00:41:43,002 --> 00:41:44,710
There's one wonderful
moment in the film.

825
00:41:44,710 --> 00:41:47,126
The French prisoners have been
digging a tunnel, an escape

826
00:41:47,126 --> 00:41:48,180
tunnel.

827
00:41:48,180 --> 00:41:49,860
And they've almost
completed the tunnel

828
00:41:49,860 --> 00:41:51,130
when the Germans come
and say, all right we're

829
00:41:51,130 --> 00:41:53,171
moving you out of your
barracks and we're putting

830
00:41:53,171 --> 00:41:55,470
these English prisoners in.

831
00:41:55,470 --> 00:41:57,500
and so the French are
very unhappy about this,

832
00:41:57,500 --> 00:41:59,416
because they've almost
completed their tunnel.

833
00:41:59,416 --> 00:42:02,040
So, at great danger to
himself, the Marechal character

834
00:42:02,040 --> 00:42:06,400
breaks ranks, does
a kind of trick

835
00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:08,820
where he drops a
suitcase, I think,

836
00:42:08,820 --> 00:42:11,660
and he bends over to try to pick
it up to give them an excuse

837
00:42:11,660 --> 00:42:14,880
to talk to the English prisoners
who are going to change places

838
00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:15,457
with him.

839
00:42:15,457 --> 00:42:17,040
He wants to tell me
English prisoners,

840
00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:19,327
there's a m you could escape.

841
00:42:19,327 --> 00:42:21,660
But it turns out he's not
able to give them the message,

842
00:42:21,660 --> 00:42:23,710
because the English
don't understand French

843
00:42:23,710 --> 00:42:25,780
and he can't speak English.

844
00:42:25,780 --> 00:42:27,795
So the English Prisoners
end up going into the--

845
00:42:27,795 --> 00:42:29,170
without ever
knowing that there's

846
00:42:29,170 --> 00:42:32,860
a tunnel waiting for them that's
almost ready to be completed.

847
00:42:32,860 --> 00:42:37,290
An example of the
barrier, the way language

848
00:42:37,290 --> 00:42:39,480
separates people,
that in many ways

849
00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:41,630
can be said to be frustrating.

850
00:42:41,630 --> 00:42:42,420
One more example.

851
00:42:42,420 --> 00:42:43,920
At the very end of
the film, there's

852
00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:47,405
a moment when the two
characters, Marechal

853
00:42:47,405 --> 00:42:50,690
and Rosenthal are making their
escape across a great field,

854
00:42:50,690 --> 00:42:52,850
a great white field of snow.

855
00:42:52,850 --> 00:42:55,830
And they're running across the
field, and the camera backs up,

856
00:42:55,830 --> 00:42:58,860
and we see them being
watched by German soldiers.

857
00:42:58,860 --> 00:43:00,510
One of the soldiers
picks up his rifle,

858
00:43:00,510 --> 00:43:01,884
he says they're
making an escape,

859
00:43:01,884 --> 00:43:03,160
and starts to aim at them.

860
00:43:03,160 --> 00:43:06,430
Then, all of a sudden, he stops.

861
00:43:06,430 --> 00:43:07,680
watch for that how it happens.

862
00:43:07,680 --> 00:43:09,763
I think his partner says,
wait a minute, hold off.

863
00:43:09,763 --> 00:43:10,810
Why doesn't he shoot?

864
00:43:10,810 --> 00:43:14,250
And then we see Marechal
and Rosenthal disappear

865
00:43:14,250 --> 00:43:18,990
across an invisible boundary,
and the German says, well

866
00:43:18,990 --> 00:43:20,220
they've crossed the border.

867
00:43:20,220 --> 00:43:22,740
They're no longer in
Germany, I can't shoot them,

868
00:43:22,740 --> 00:43:24,016
they're now in Belgium.

869
00:43:24,016 --> 00:43:26,390
But the fact is there's no
boundary there, it's all snow.

870
00:43:26,390 --> 00:43:28,120
It's a snowy field.

871
00:43:28,120 --> 00:43:30,130
How arbitrary that boundary is.

872
00:43:30,130 --> 00:43:32,870
But again and again the
film we have this theme

873
00:43:32,870 --> 00:43:34,390
of barriers and boundaries.

874
00:43:34,390 --> 00:43:36,240
What separates us?

875
00:43:36,240 --> 00:43:39,380
And also, one last thing about
the question of social class.

876
00:43:39,380 --> 00:43:42,040
Maybe the most
disturbing and powerful

877
00:43:42,040 --> 00:43:44,970
insight that the film has
about social class, one

878
00:43:44,970 --> 00:43:47,010
that Americans tend to resist.

879
00:43:47,010 --> 00:43:48,986
But I encourage you
not to resist it.

880
00:43:48,986 --> 00:43:50,610
Those of you not from
the United States

881
00:43:50,610 --> 00:43:52,465
will, perhaps, understand
this more easily,

882
00:43:52,465 --> 00:43:55,090
although Americans
need to understand it,

883
00:43:55,090 --> 00:43:57,180
is the extent to which
one's social class

884
00:43:57,180 --> 00:43:59,240
shapes one's identity.

885
00:43:59,240 --> 00:44:01,530
That is to say, one of the
things we feel in this film

886
00:44:01,530 --> 00:44:04,930
is that de Boeldieu's nature
is a function of his having

887
00:44:04,930 --> 00:44:06,300
been raised as an aristocrat.

888
00:44:06,300 --> 00:44:08,800
There are wonderful
scenes between de Boeldieu

889
00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:10,860
and Marechal, where
Marechal says to him,

890
00:44:10,860 --> 00:44:12,970
there's a wall between us.

891
00:44:12,970 --> 00:44:16,090
And you're so undemonstrative.

892
00:44:16,090 --> 00:44:18,550
Marechal doesn't trust
him because he belongs

893
00:44:18,550 --> 00:44:21,780
to a different class,
even though, of course,

894
00:44:21,780 --> 00:44:23,010
they're Frenchmen after all.

895
00:44:23,010 --> 00:44:27,760
And in the end, nationality
trumps class in this film,

896
00:44:27,760 --> 00:44:29,030
as you'll see.

897
00:44:29,030 --> 00:44:34,090
But in this sort of distinction
or difference between Marechal

898
00:44:34,090 --> 00:44:38,510
and de Boeldieu, we have another
expression of this sense,

899
00:44:38,510 --> 00:44:41,740
of this idea, of this
recognition that one's

900
00:44:41,740 --> 00:44:45,720
personality, itself, what
one likes and dislikes,

901
00:44:45,720 --> 00:44:48,510
ones fundamental
nature is in part

902
00:44:48,510 --> 00:44:51,390
shaped by the class
into which one is born.

903
00:44:51,390 --> 00:44:53,430
We're not born utterly free.

904
00:44:53,430 --> 00:44:56,820
We don't have absolute
choice in what we become.

905
00:44:56,820 --> 00:44:59,950
Our characters are
shaped, controlled,

906
00:44:59,950 --> 00:45:02,990
by the circumstances
in which we live,

907
00:45:02,990 --> 00:45:05,490
and the film profoundly
understands that.

908
00:45:05,490 --> 00:45:08,890
It understands our desire
to breach those limitations,

909
00:45:08,890 --> 00:45:11,660
to go beyond them, and
it celebrates our impulse

910
00:45:11,660 --> 00:45:12,530
to do so.

911
00:45:12,530 --> 00:45:14,700
But it also
recognizes the degree

912
00:45:14,700 --> 00:45:19,280
to which we remain confined
within personalities that

913
00:45:19,280 --> 00:45:21,970
are partly controlled
or shaped by forces far

914
00:45:21,970 --> 00:45:25,070
beyond our individual control,
and that are especially

915
00:45:25,070 --> 00:45:28,570
located in the social
class to which we belong.

916
00:45:28,570 --> 00:45:30,780
Finally, as I mentioned
this afternoon,

917
00:45:30,780 --> 00:45:32,700
the theme of
historical transition

918
00:45:32,700 --> 00:45:35,220
is at the heart of
this remarkable film.

919
00:45:35,220 --> 00:45:38,180
And you'll understand very
clearly what is going on there.

920
00:45:38,180 --> 00:45:40,890
Again, dramatized
even more complexly

921
00:45:40,890 --> 00:45:46,180
and fully in Rules of the Game,
it's a central topic here.

922
00:45:46,180 --> 00:45:48,260
aristocratic traditions
are giving way

923
00:45:48,260 --> 00:45:50,930
to modernity in this film.

924
00:45:50,930 --> 00:45:52,820
And we're aware of them
in all kinds of ways.

925
00:45:52,820 --> 00:45:54,890
Even in the nostalgic
way in which

926
00:45:54,890 --> 00:46:01,070
de Boeldieu and Rauffenstein
carry on their conversations.

927
00:46:01,070 --> 00:46:04,070
they have experiences in
common because they belong

928
00:46:04,070 --> 00:46:08,740
to the aristocracy, a class
that transcended, in some sense,

929
00:46:08,740 --> 00:46:12,010
at least in part,
transcended national origins.

930
00:46:12,010 --> 00:46:16,570
That aristocratic
dispensation is disappearing.

931
00:46:16,570 --> 00:46:20,160
In fact, this first World War
completely obliterated it,

932
00:46:20,160 --> 00:46:22,140
and Renoir's not the
only one who said this.

933
00:46:25,260 --> 00:46:26,860
apart from
scholarship, there are

934
00:46:26,860 --> 00:46:28,860
a number of wonderful
novels, for example,

935
00:46:28,860 --> 00:46:31,660
that deal with
the transformation

936
00:46:31,660 --> 00:46:36,120
of European society because
of the First World War,

937
00:46:36,120 --> 00:46:40,300
and Renoir's film
is one such text.

938
00:46:43,740 --> 00:46:45,760
Renoir's maturity.

939
00:46:45,760 --> 00:46:48,220
This is another way of
talking about the complexity,

940
00:46:48,220 --> 00:46:50,640
or the richness of his films.

941
00:46:50,640 --> 00:46:52,430
I simply want to
remind you, at the end,

942
00:46:52,430 --> 00:46:55,470
that one way to think
about what Renoir is doing

943
00:46:55,470 --> 00:46:59,300
is to recognize that
his visual style is,

944
00:46:59,300 --> 00:47:04,550
in some sense, an embodiment of
the ambition not to simplify.

945
00:47:04,550 --> 00:47:08,240
To be as fluid and as
attentive to the world

946
00:47:08,240 --> 00:47:09,610
as it's possible to be.

947
00:47:09,610 --> 00:47:13,780
And one could say
that that visual,

948
00:47:13,780 --> 00:47:16,890
that commitment to the way the
camera acts toward the world,

949
00:47:16,890 --> 00:47:21,640
is a version of a larger kind
of maturity or complexity

950
00:47:21,640 --> 00:47:24,340
that's revealed in the
content of his work, as well.

951
00:47:24,340 --> 00:47:25,340
Take the characters.

952
00:47:25,340 --> 00:47:27,680
I've already mentioned
the key point here.

953
00:47:27,680 --> 00:47:29,470
The way in which
the characters are

954
00:47:29,470 --> 00:47:32,450
both flawed, full of
weaknesses, but also

955
00:47:32,450 --> 00:47:34,090
attractive in certain ways.

956
00:47:34,090 --> 00:47:36,660
The way in which a
Rosenthal is marred

957
00:47:36,660 --> 00:47:39,970
by his pride in his
family's wealth.

958
00:47:39,970 --> 00:47:41,880
The way in which
the Gabin character

959
00:47:41,880 --> 00:47:45,340
is marred by his antisemitism
and his lack of education.

960
00:47:45,340 --> 00:47:47,490
The way in which the
de Boeldieu character

961
00:47:47,490 --> 00:47:51,680
is damaged, or limited,
by his aristocratic

962
00:47:51,680 --> 00:47:56,390
reserve, and his impulse
toward a kind of condescending

963
00:47:56,390 --> 00:47:59,300
superiority, which you
could see articulated

964
00:47:59,300 --> 00:48:00,910
in the very first
moment you see him,

965
00:48:00,910 --> 00:48:02,590
at the very beginning
of the film, where

966
00:48:02,590 --> 00:48:07,720
he's tsk tsking about the
incompetence of his own troops.

967
00:48:07,720 --> 00:48:09,490
So there's a
complexity of character

968
00:48:09,490 --> 00:48:12,590
that reflects the maturity
of the film's vision of life,

969
00:48:12,590 --> 00:48:15,120
and there's a complexity in
the story, because think of it

970
00:48:15,120 --> 00:48:15,840
for a minute.

971
00:48:15,840 --> 00:48:18,719
This is a war story, but it's
a war story without battles.

972
00:48:18,719 --> 00:48:20,510
Some people have said
it's the happiest war

973
00:48:20,510 --> 00:48:21,860
story they ever saw.

974
00:48:21,860 --> 00:48:23,390
One way of organizing
the film is

975
00:48:23,390 --> 00:48:27,140
to see it as a series of
meals, in which character

976
00:48:27,140 --> 00:48:30,730
sit down at table and
share convivial thoughts.

977
00:48:30,730 --> 00:48:32,760
It's not a sufficient
way of thinking about it,

978
00:48:32,760 --> 00:48:35,530
but it's a partial way
of thinking about it.

979
00:48:35,530 --> 00:48:38,860
so, although it's
as film about war,

980
00:48:38,860 --> 00:48:41,920
about the consequences of
war, it doesn't show shooting.

981
00:48:41,920 --> 00:48:44,340
And in fact, although
it's a war story,

982
00:48:44,340 --> 00:48:49,070
it's about most deeply, human
community and human solidarity,

983
00:48:49,070 --> 00:48:52,030
and about historical transition.

984
00:48:52,030 --> 00:48:54,860
Well, one way to crystallize
all of this, or to summarize it,

985
00:48:54,860 --> 00:48:57,840
is to remind you of the
complexity of the title-- Grand

986
00:48:57,840 --> 00:49:00,010
Illusion.

987
00:49:00,010 --> 00:49:01,760
the title seems to
me to have at least

988
00:49:01,760 --> 00:49:04,910
four separate implications,
or four separate ways

989
00:49:04,910 --> 00:49:07,575
of understanding.

990
00:49:07,575 --> 00:49:09,780
It's a measure of what
I've called multiplicity,

991
00:49:09,780 --> 00:49:11,550
or complexity.

992
00:49:11,550 --> 00:49:13,360
what would the title mean?

993
00:49:13,360 --> 00:49:16,380
What is the grand illusion
to which the title refers?

994
00:49:16,380 --> 00:49:18,660
Well, one is surely this.

995
00:49:18,660 --> 00:49:21,620
Remember, the film was made
on the eve of World War II

996
00:49:21,620 --> 00:49:24,680
even though it is ostensibly
set in World War I.

997
00:49:24,680 --> 00:49:28,010
And, in fact, it was
recognized as an anti-war film.

998
00:49:28,010 --> 00:49:30,820
It was banned in
Germany and in Italy.

999
00:49:30,820 --> 00:49:32,570
President Roosevelt
in the United States

1000
00:49:32,570 --> 00:49:35,200
said anyone who loves
freedom should see this film.

1001
00:49:35,200 --> 00:49:37,780
I think he was right.

1002
00:49:37,780 --> 00:49:39,280
The Title.

1003
00:49:39,280 --> 00:49:42,610
One of the things about that
war, that first World War, some

1004
00:49:42,610 --> 00:49:44,760
of you will know, was it
was identified especially

1005
00:49:44,760 --> 00:49:47,620
by the American President
Woodrow Wilson as the war

1006
00:49:47,620 --> 00:49:49,450
to end wars.

1007
00:49:49,450 --> 00:49:52,780
So one deep grand,
but horrible, illusion

1008
00:49:52,780 --> 00:49:54,530
is that this is the
war to end wars.

1009
00:49:54,530 --> 00:49:58,280
That there won't be anymore
wars after this one.

1010
00:49:58,280 --> 00:50:01,430
A second possible meaning
of the title is this.

1011
00:50:01,430 --> 00:50:04,300
one of the central events in the
film, I haven't mentioned yet,

1012
00:50:04,300 --> 00:50:07,860
and it's, maybe, the most
memorable interlude in the film

1013
00:50:07,860 --> 00:50:10,590
is, after Marechal and
Rosenthal make their escape

1014
00:50:10,590 --> 00:50:14,180
from one of the prison
camps, they're on the run.

1015
00:50:14,180 --> 00:50:17,110
They're in Germany, and
it's the middle of winter.

1016
00:50:17,110 --> 00:50:21,800
And they managed to
find safety in the home

1017
00:50:21,800 --> 00:50:27,070
of a German woman whose husband
is away at the war, perhaps

1018
00:50:27,070 --> 00:50:27,570
dead.

1019
00:50:27,570 --> 00:50:30,990
And she is there
trying to manage a farm

1020
00:50:30,990 --> 00:50:36,430
with her young daughter Elsa,
and Marechal and Rosenthal

1021
00:50:36,430 --> 00:50:41,550
spend the winter with them,
and it's an idle in the winter.

1022
00:50:41,550 --> 00:50:42,410
It's very moving.

1023
00:50:42,410 --> 00:50:45,300
And, again, the barriers of
language are present there.

1024
00:50:45,300 --> 00:50:48,070
At the very end of
their idle in the woods,

1025
00:50:48,070 --> 00:50:52,360
we have Marechal say to the
child, --I called her Elsa,

1026
00:50:52,360 --> 00:50:54,570
I think it's Lottie.

1027
00:50:54,570 --> 00:51:00,320
He looks at the girl and, in
bad German, he says [GERMAN].

1028
00:51:00,320 --> 00:51:01,702
He says blue eyes.

1029
00:51:01,702 --> 00:51:03,410
But he's very proud
of himself for having

1030
00:51:03,410 --> 00:51:05,470
been able to articulate
two German words.

1031
00:51:05,470 --> 00:51:07,500
But the fact that he's
done that is a mark

1032
00:51:07,500 --> 00:51:09,242
of his having reached out.

1033
00:51:09,242 --> 00:51:11,200
And the implication, more
than the implication,

1034
00:51:11,200 --> 00:51:15,360
is he becomes the woman's lover.

1035
00:51:15,360 --> 00:51:16,950
while they are what
while they spend

1036
00:51:16,950 --> 00:51:20,300
the winter in this way--
and the German woman,

1037
00:51:20,300 --> 00:51:24,700
at a certain point, when they
first take refuge in her place,

1038
00:51:24,700 --> 00:51:28,215
a German soldier searching for
these guys, comes to the door,

1039
00:51:28,215 --> 00:51:30,090
comes to the window and
speaks to the window.

1040
00:51:30,090 --> 00:51:32,970
And the widow protects them.

1041
00:51:32,970 --> 00:51:34,887
So a second grand
illusion may very well

1042
00:51:34,887 --> 00:51:36,470
be, look, this is a
very lovely story,

1043
00:51:36,470 --> 00:51:39,700
but how believable is it?

1044
00:51:39,700 --> 00:51:42,340
French soldiers on the
run from a prison camp

1045
00:51:42,340 --> 00:51:45,470
find a farmhouse in which
a German widow takes them

1046
00:51:45,470 --> 00:51:49,110
in and protects them
from the German soldiers.

1047
00:51:49,110 --> 00:51:51,740
It's a nice story, but
is it a grand illu--

1048
00:51:51,740 --> 00:51:54,970
if it is an illusion, maybe it's
a grand one, a wonderful one.

1049
00:51:54,970 --> 00:51:57,760
Not just a large one,
but a valuable one.

1050
00:51:57,760 --> 00:52:03,680
So that's a second way in which
the title resonates for me.

1051
00:52:03,680 --> 00:52:05,490
The third grand
illusion has to do

1052
00:52:05,490 --> 00:52:08,220
with the community of the
prisoners, the solidarity

1053
00:52:08,220 --> 00:52:11,450
and community that's dramatized
in the film in the end.

1054
00:52:11,450 --> 00:52:14,341
The de Boeldieu character
sacrifices himself

1055
00:52:14,341 --> 00:52:15,840
for the good of the
other, something

1056
00:52:15,840 --> 00:52:18,860
that we might find surprising
at first, given his distance

1057
00:52:18,860 --> 00:52:21,720
from the other characters.

1058
00:52:21,720 --> 00:52:23,840
and there is a sense all
the way through the film,

1059
00:52:23,840 --> 00:52:26,890
that a kind of
community or solidarity

1060
00:52:26,890 --> 00:52:28,800
has been established
amongst the men,

1061
00:52:28,800 --> 00:52:30,610
especially amongst
the Frenchmen.

1062
00:52:30,610 --> 00:52:35,240
And especially that a kind of
friendship between Rosenthal

1063
00:52:35,240 --> 00:52:38,070
and Marechal has been forged.

1064
00:52:38,070 --> 00:52:40,700
Well, again, maybe
that's a grand illusion.

1065
00:52:40,700 --> 00:52:43,030
The idea that you can
transcend social class,

1066
00:52:43,030 --> 00:52:47,530
that you can transcend the
ethnic prejudices into which

1067
00:52:47,530 --> 00:52:54,570
you were born, and with which
you've been brainwashed.

1068
00:52:54,570 --> 00:52:57,490
So that's another kind of
potential grand illusion.

1069
00:52:57,490 --> 00:53:00,380
And then finally, the
fourth example I would give.

1070
00:53:00,380 --> 00:53:02,470
the fourth nuance
that one could add

1071
00:53:02,470 --> 00:53:05,930
to the title, the grand
illusion of movies themselves.

1072
00:53:05,930 --> 00:53:09,030
What are movies but
grand illusions, right?

1073
00:53:09,030 --> 00:53:11,970
They're two dimensional,
not three dimensional,

1074
00:53:11,970 --> 00:53:13,860
but when we watch
them we feel we've

1075
00:53:13,860 --> 00:53:15,740
entered into a real world.

1076
00:53:15,740 --> 00:53:18,530
The grand illusion
of movies themselves

1077
00:53:18,530 --> 00:53:21,800
is part of what the
title alludes to.

1078
00:53:21,800 --> 00:53:24,180
Well, something of the
complexity and maturity

1079
00:53:24,180 --> 00:53:27,070
of Renoir's vision
of experience,

1080
00:53:27,070 --> 00:53:30,760
sense of human character,
and sense of history

1081
00:53:30,760 --> 00:53:33,660
is embodied, then,
in the complexity

1082
00:53:33,660 --> 00:53:36,070
of the title of his movie.