La Grande Illusion : French Film Guide Paperback / softback
by Martin O'Shaughnessy
Part of the Cine-File French Film Guides series
Paperback / softback
Description
Directed by the great Jean Renoir, "La Grande Illusion" (1937) is the finest of all anti-war films and a cinematic masterwork.
Other films oppose war by showing its horror. Renoir's film holds the horror at arm's length to give us a clearer view of it.
A prisoner-of-war drama, with brilliant performances from leading stars of its period, including Erich von Stroheim and Jean Gabin, the film combines popular appeal with a formal brilliance that allows a complex examination of how classes, nations and genders relate to one another.
In this comprehensive and readable companion to the film, Martin O'Shaughnessy underlines its sharp intelligence.
He shows how, not content to register the world as it is, the film plays off competing historical possibilities against each other, facing the public with their responsibility to shape the future.
Locating the film in the context of Renoir's career, O'Shaughnessy discusses its use of stars, production history, set design and reception.
He compares known drafts of the film with a previously undiscovered story outline, casting important new light on its genesis.
Stressing how it spoke to its times, he also demonstrates how it speaks to us now.
Information
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Item not Available
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:136 pages, 31 bw integrated
- Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Publication Date:04/12/2009
- Category:
- ISBN:9781848850576
Other Formats
- PDF from £18.62
Information
-
Item not Available
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:136 pages, 31 bw integrated
- Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Publication Date:04/12/2009
- Category:
- ISBN:9781848850576
