Tuesday, March 7, 2017
066 - French Cancan, 1955, France. Dir. Jean Renoir.
Her name was Lola. She was a showgirl.
Except instead of doing the merengue and the cha cha, she belly dances.
And this is not the Copacabana. It is a Parisian café. A live theatre called The Chinese Screen.
Henri Danglard owns it. He is played by Jean Gabin.
Jean Gabin is back!
It is now 17 years since we saw him in The Human Beast (1938) (063, March 3), 18 since The Grand Illusion (1937) (062, March 2), and 19 since The Lower Depths (1936) (059, February 28).
Nice to see you again, M. Gabin.
He is a mature man.
He seems content.
But The Chinese Screen is struggling.
Going under.
After his wife Lola performs a belly dance, Danglard, whom she affectionately calls Zizi, encourages his new act, a whistler, to go out on stage with great confidence.
A whistler!
If they smell your fear, they will eat you alive. If you go boldly, you will own them.
The whistler steps out on stage. And whistles. Have you ever paid to see that? It is actually quite good.
Does he go boldly?
No. He looks terrified. And they smell it.
A group of people get up to leave.
This place is lame. Let's fly this joint. Let's go to Montmarte.
Danglard goes with them!
You know your joint is struggling when the owner himself skips out for something more entertaining.
They land at a hot new place in Montmarte.
The young folks are there.
They are dancing an old-fashioned dance. One that Danglard and his group know.
It is like when college students today go ballroom dancing.
And do the foxtrot and the waltz and the West Coast swing.
Or the salsa and the mambo and the tango.
The place is packed. The young folks know the steps. Zizi and Lola remember the steps.
They all have a good time.
Zizi has a good time. He dances with Nini.
Lola notices that Zizi notices Nini.
Don't worry about it. I'll never see her again.
He sees her again. He goes to hire her. He has an inspiration. He is inspired.
Zizi takes Nini to visit his old friend, a dance instructor, one of the best.
He tells her his idea.
He wants to bring back the cancan.
The can-can!
(I just translated it for you. In French it is cancan. In English it is can-can. Now you know what I said.)
The can-can is a physically demanding dance, consisting of high kicks, vertical leg lifts, turning and hopping, jump splits, and flying splits. Whoo!
It is danced to this tune: Dum dum dum-da-da-da, dum dum dum-da-da-da, dum dum dum-da-da-da dum (da-da-da-da-da-da-da)!
It requires the best of the best.
Yes! Let's bring it back.
The can-can was popular in the 1840s. It is now the 1920s. It is so out of style. But Zizi is inspired.
She agrees. They hold auditions. All the girls want to be in it. They try to burst down the door. Some are terrible. Some have potential. They get the girls with the most potential.
Danglard sells The Chinese Screen. It was going to be foreclosed upon anyway.
He buys The White Queen on promises and hot air. He tears it down.
They build a new theatre.
And we follow the lives of performers.
"What kind of career? / The finest of all. The theater."
We follow their love.
"I'll give up everything for you. / Could you see yourself in a cottage living on bread and love?"
We follow their jealousies, their in-fighting, their low points, and their triumphs.
Nini has three suitors.
Someone goes to jail.
And this film as much as any other we have seen this year begins to achieve the goal of capturing a painting in every frame.
Every frame a Degas. Every frame a Seurat. Every frame a Toulouse-Lautrec. And yes, every frame a Renoir.
Jean Renoir, who built an international reputation on heavy philosophical black-and-white classics, has now moved into a new period in his career where he dazzles with light entertainment sweeping the histories of art in lush, spectacular Technicolor, and his framing and his production design and his camera filters are shouting with Impressionism.
He commented himself that he spent his whole life trying to come out from under his father and find his own way, only to discover that in the end he was aspiring to make pictures like his father.
And boy, are they beautiful.
This film will make you fall in love with France.
If you saw Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, then you will adore French Cancan.
Now about that new theatre.
We need to find a name.
Lola wants it named after her.
A backer suggests the Cancan Palace.
Danglard decides.
Danglard is inspired.
He stands and announces it to the others.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the place will be called . . .
The Moulin Rouge.
Dum dum dum-da-da-da, dum dum dum-da-da-da, dum dum dum-da-da-da dum (da-da-da-da-da-da-da)!
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