Monday | October 17, 2005 9:00 pm

The Grand Illusion
(La Grande illusion)

Screening on Film

Directed by Jean Renoir.
With Jean Gabin, Marcel Dalio, Erich von Stroheim.
France, 1937, 35mm, black & white, 117 min.
English, French, German, and Russian with English subtitles.

Set during World War I, the film takes place mostly 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; and class and racial ties. With The Grand Illusion, Renoir broke new ground in 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: he hoped that the film would persuade the Germans not to precipitate World War II.