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French Cancan
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Wikipedia article
'French Cancan' (also known as 'Only the French Can') is a 1955 French-Italian musical film written and directed by Jean Renoir and starring Jean Gabin and Francoise Arnoul.
Where Renoir's previous film 'Le Carosse dor' had celebrated the 18th-century Italian commedia dellarte, this work is a homage to the Parisian caf-concert of the 19th century with its popular singers and dancers. Visually, the film evokes the paintings of Edgar Degas and the Impressionists, including his own father, Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It also marked his return to France and to French cinema after an exile that began in 1940.
It was shot at the Joinville Studios in Paris. The film's sets were designed by the art director Max Douy.
Plot
In Paris in the 1890s, Henri Danglard owns a night club where the star turn is a belly dance by his mistress Lola. Going after the show one night to an old-fashioned dance hall in Montmartre, he sees people doing the cancan together and is struck by the suppleness and charm of a young laundry girl called Nini. He persuades her to take dancing lessons for a new venture he is planning. As his club has failed and Lola has left him, his idea is to open another place with a troupe of glamorous girls performing the cancan. Naming it the Moulin Rouge, its opening night is a thunderous success.
Cast
* Jean Gabin as Henri Danglard
* Franoise Arnoul as Nini
* Mara Flix as Lola
* Anna Amendola as Esther Georges
* Jean-Roger Caussimon as Baron Walter
* Dora Doll as La Gnisse
* Giani Esposito as Prince Alexandre
* Gaston Gabaroche as Oscar, le pianiste
* Jacques Jouanneau as Bidon
* Jean Pards as Coudrier
* Franco Pastorino as Paulo, le boulanger
* Michle Philippe as Eleonore
* Michel Piccoli as Le Capitaine Valorgueil
* Albert Rmy as Barjolin
* Philippe Clay as Casimir le Serpentin
* dith Piaf as Eugnie BuffetRobertson Wojcik, Pamela (2001). 'Soundtrack available: essays on film and popular music', Duke University Press. p. 137. Crosland, Margaret (2002). 'A cry from the heart: the life of Edith Piaf', Arcadia.
* Pierre Olaf as Roberto, pierrot siffleur
Critical reception
Franois Truffaut reviewed the film in 'Arts' magazine in May 1955 and called it a milestone in the history of colour of cinema. "Every scene is a cartoon in movement [-] Madame Guibole's dance class reminds us of a Degas sketch." Whilst Truffaut did not consider it as important a film as 'Rules of the Game' or 'The Golden Coach', he nevertheless praised it as an example of Renoir "as vigorous and youthful as ever." This affirmative response was not shared by Bernard Chardre however, writing in 'Positif', who criticised the music, the sets, even the final cancan scene. "The phoniness of the rue Lepic, with its vegetable carts and piles of artificial stones is painful to look at. The actors act. The audience gets bored. The dance rehearsals are Degas all right, but the kind that appears on Post Office calendars."Truffaut,'Arts', May 4, 1955, and Chardere in 'Positif', quoted in 'French New Wave', by Jean Douchet, p.27
The film received the Grand Prix de l'Academie du Cinma in 1956. Roger Ebert added 'French Cancan' to his "Great Movies" list in 2012.Roger Ebert. [http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-french-cancan-1954 French Cancan] May 31, 2012
References
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