Who cried?
Did anyone else cry during this? Like when the horrible old woman just chucks the adorable dog like a piece of garbage of the bridge?
share[deleted]
I sure did! About the little dog--I think it may have been a fox terrier--when the family all dove down during the strafing on the bridge, little Paulette was on the inside with the dog under her left arm. Then her parents were hit. They each reacted and the mother arched up and turned a little to the side, facing Paulette. Paulette waited a few moments and raised up on one elbow--on top of her dog!! She had her full weight on that little pup and he was twitching. Finally when she picked him up he was floppy and still twitching, which he did for the next few moments until the man picked her up. By the time the old woman grabbed him, there was no doubt he was dead. What creeped me was after getting him out of the water, how she carried him around all stiff. I don't think that was faked at all.
We have to remember, though, that this was 1952 France. It was WAY before animal protection laws in the movies in the USA and I don't even know when or if those laws exist in continental Europe now. Carrying a dying or dead animal may not have seemed as repugnant to a French audience as it does to our sensitive American or UK audiences today. Animals were routinely killed or injured for films earlier in the film industry whether we like it or not.
I lived in France in 1962-63 when I was just about Michel's age (8,9?). We lived in a small village near Orleans in the Loire Valley south of Paris. Our neighbors raised rabbits and produce and my brother and I had a playmate next door named Philippe. This movie brought back a LOT of memories! I remember the smell of a rural French farmhouse. Not saying it was bad, just distinctive. They took the death of an animal very much as a normal everyday thing. We had to stop playing with Philippe eventually because my folks were convinced he and his little sister had whooping cough, although we were vaccinated.
The ending was also a real jar--while in France I became a Girl Scout at the first level, which were known as Brownies (after little do-good elves). We went on a field trip to a French orphanage of all places. The children were clean and ready for us. The tour showed us their sleeping dorms, the common bathing and dining areas, and we all sat together while the orphans taught us some traditional childrens' songs. It was so, so depressing- none of them had anything to themselves. But they put on a brave face for us that day. When little Paulette finds herself in that crowded place, crying for Michel/Maman--OMG. That was killer.