Set during WWI, most of Grand Illusion takes place in a German prisoner of war camp for officers, including Frenchmen, who have been captured on the front. Through the relationships between the prisoners and their jailers, Renoir explores confinement and humanity’s essential longing for freedom; male friendship and its erotic overtones; class and racial ties. With Grand Illusion, Renoir broke new ground in the spontaneity and freedom of performance and shooting style, attaining a warmth and compassion for people and their suffering. Unfortunately, he failed at his main objective: to have Grand Illusion persuade the Germans not to precipitate WWII.