La Grande Illusion - Jean Renoir

Seen for the first time in January 2013.

Something about watching "La Grande Illusion" reminds me of sipping a fine well-aged wheated bourbon. Now a good youngish wheated bourbon initially tastes of vanilla or caramel sweetness transitioning into a golden lushness mid-palate before a nice long soothing finish with a quiet burn. This is, in and of itself, a very tasty and satisfying way to finish off a ruminative and pensive day. But should you age that same bourbon for 10-15 years in new charred oak barrels, that same sip of bourbon will take on an extra dimension. There's a depth and texture that the younger bourbon lacks.

I'm comparing "La Grande Illusion" to aged bourbon, not because it's an old movie, but because it has that same extra dimension of depth and texture. Something that you didn't even know was lacking in other fine movies, and you're not even completely sure how to explain it. It's not greater complexity, or taste, or seriousness. It's another dimension entirely. It's an emanating warmth that pervades everything and yet is impalpable.

They say it's one of the first prison-break movies ever made. But there is no tension nor suspense surrounding the planned escape nor any thrills in its execution. It's notable and remarkable how amicably the Germans and their French prisoners seem to get a long. There is not an ounce of nationalistic propaganda in this film. It accentuates the similarities between people and their needs and at its most on the nose points out the artificiality of borders themselves. The Germans are not portrayed as barbarians, but with honor and a mutual respect for their prisoners.

While it stars the great Jean Gabin, I'd like to emphasize that Pierre Fresnay as aristocratic Boieldieu was a revelation. He's like the Jean Dujardin of another era. Just incredible amounts of gallic charisma and charm. The ending as well is super charming, showing no personal animosity between the French and Germans, which may be unrealistic in some sense, but admirable for striving toward a greater humanistic truth. Grade A.

The Girl From Monaco

Seen for the first time in January 2013.

For the first hour or so, "The Girl From Monaco" seems like the kind of crappy romantic-comedy that one need not go to France and subtitles for. It's okay as far as that formula goes, with an uptight nebbish lawyer, a sexually available trollop, and a grim body-guard. There is humor present, though maybe not the laugh out loud kind. But as the film goes on, it stops trying to be funny, and we start to notice some interesting parallels between the love triangle in the lawyer's case and the love triangle in the lawyer's life. And so there's only one way this will end up, and it's not funny, but it is interesting. Maybe in the final few moments, the film tries too hard to be evocative. And fails. But it ends up being a pretty good movie that sucks you in with its relatability. Grade B +.

Violette - Claude Chabrol

Seen for the first time in January 2013.

At first glance "Violette" did not exactly cater to my sensibilities. It seemed at first what I might describe as bourgeois or perhaps middlebrow. But once the crime is committed and the arrests are made, it becomes quite a good movie. The story really is shocking, and Violette, intensely played by Isabella Huppert is an astonishing and memorable character. Chabrol depicts the sensationalism surrounding her trial in all of its humanity-is-little-more-than-apes-flinging-shit-at-each-other ignominy.

And upon her conviction when Violette calls the panel of jurors bastards who disgust her... I don't even know how to react to that. Cause on the one hand, it seems a fair indictment of humanity in general at that point, but on the other hand, there's a fairly sizable plank in her eye. She's a complex character, toward whom we're surprised to feel some sympathy despite her seeming monstrousnes which is on reminiscent of the main character in Camus's "L'etranger."

All said, "Violette," which is based upon a true story was a nicely layered and thoughtful film that told its story and depicted its characters with remarkable grace and subtlety. Grade B.

Diabolique - Henri-Georges Clouzot

Seen for the first time in January 2013.

"Diabolique" is taut and suspenseful and clearly hugely influential. It takes a minute to get rolling, but once it does the tension and mystery build to a great climax. The idea behind the twist popped through my head a few times, but probably only because I had seen enough movies that aped that twist. A really well done film. Well thought and well executed. Grade A.

And God Created Woman

Seen for the first time in January 2012.

"And God Created Woman" is a fairly slight movie for the bulk of its duration. We seemingly have a good-hearted trollop, iconically played by Brigitte Bardot, surrounded by wolves, by who's machinations she ends up marrying a likeable and sympathetic guy. But maybe and by "maybe" I mean "obviously," she is in love with her husband's brother who is attracted to her but put off by her wild ways. Husband and wife try their damnedest to make each other happy, but the wolves are circling, and of course she succumbs to temptation.

This is where the movie gets good. The tension builds and she goes into a frenzy of dancing in a pretty good scene toward the end. And the ambiguity of the ending works pretty well. Will she ever make that poor fellow happy or will she just drive him to misery? We don't know, but me, I wish 'em the best. Grade B-.

Le Corbeau - Henri-Georges Clouzot

Seen for the first time in October 2012.

For most of this film, I was convinced the teenage girl was the one behind the letters. So convinced that I thought it was flaw not to make it explicit, elsewise people might think it a weak mystery rather than fairly strong suspense. I was wrong though. In fairness the mystery aspect is still not a strength of this movie in my opinion. Who is Le Corbeau doesn’t really matter. Especially since it seems as though everyone in the town probably wrote at least a letter or two as Le Corbeau.

Its strengths, I suppose, lie in its damning of typical human pettiness and its opposition to bourgeois morality. But it’s not all urbane moralizing either. It’s an engaging movie, that while not thrilling, is engrossing. It is suspenseful. It’s also very dialogue driven. I would call it theatrical. A little bit of Agatha Christie. A little bit of Hitchcock.

I can’t say I understand why the Gestapo would care about this film one way or the other. Don’t care to find out either. I don’t think it’s relevant to my engagement with this film. Just a good suspenseful film filled with small-town folks being provincial. Grade B.