Chichester Cinema at New Park
La Grande Illusion
Renior’s masterpiece returns on its 75th anniversary in a gorgeous digital restoration, justly considered one of the greatest pacifist films of all time.
Envisaged after the slaughter and destruction of WWI, its contemporary resonance also rests on something else beyond its anti-war message. The haunting star performances of Jean Gabin and Erich von Stroheim, and the witty and horrific detail of camp life makes this film so compelling.
Something dark and chilling lies just under the surface of Jean Renoir’s incisive social portrait of prisoners of war pulling together for their heroic bid for freedom. The meaning is in the title. Once the war is over the escapees will find themselves once more at the bottom of the social ladder as if their heroism, leadership and courage had never existed. It is this ambiguity at the heart of the film that has ensured ‘La Grande Illusion’s’ continuing relevance and place in the pantheon of cinema (subtitles).
France · 1937 · Jean Renoir · 113min
