LA MARSEILLAISE Movie Review

In 1938, Jean Renoir accepted the task of producing a film designed primarily to kindle strong feelings of patriotism and anti-fascism. He chose the most natural subject of all: the march on Paris of the Marseilles volunteers, and the capture of the Tuilleries in 1793, ending the Revolution and overthrowing the monarchy. The story is told in a series of vignettes, presented in rapid succession, with two young volunteers as the focal point. Renoir shows us the decadent court of Louis XVI, and juxtaposes scenes of the oppressed peasantry. He moves on to the storming of the Bastille, the Marseilles rebellion and so on, until the triumphant finish accompanied by the song that was ultimately known as “La Marseillaise.” The film is simple, sweeping, and occasionally thrilling. Though one can hardly call it the most multi-leveled and complex of epics, there are reassuring human touches throughout—small details that humanize the characters beyond the mere types they threaten to become. Ironically, the show is almost stolen by the performance of Renoir's brother, Pierre, as Louis XVI. He's always hungry, always eating, always worried about his image—and always, as we well know, missing the point. It's a generous, sympathetic performance in a film teeming with them.

NEXT STOP … Napoleon, Orphans of the Storm, Danton

1937 130m/B FR Pierre Renoir, Lisa Delamare, Louis Jouvet, Aime Clarimond, Andrex Andrisson, Paul Dullac; D: Jean Renoir; W: Jean Renoir; C: Jean Bourgoin. VHS NOS, INT, HHT