Thoughts after a 2nd viewing (SPOILERS)

Well, I went by myself and saw this movie again today, and was just delighted once again.

A few somewhat random thoughts ... SPOILERS ahead ...

* The characters are just delightful. Pigoil, Milou, Jacky, Douce, "Radio Man" ... they are such a wonderful lot. Their dialog is engaging, crisp, to the point, with not a word without a function. Yet it all unfolds so smoothly. A wonderful script, very well executed, from beginning to end.

* The way the characters interact with one another, and with the Faubourg, is to me very moving. We have the characters; and the Faubourg "commune" (French community); and the interaction and inter-relationship of the Faubourg and the people of the Faubourg is really the whole story of the movie. Think of Balzac and Balzac's Paris. Yet this is 1936. The sense of political ferment in this Paris is very strong, and gives a strong sense of outside forces. But this is a Faubourg rich in history and that history includes the traditional affection of Paris for the cries of "aux barricades." Everything but everything ... politics included ... therefore fits into the context of the community of the Faubourg. The Faubourg gives the characters context and a "setz im Leben" within which to live and move and have their being. Their identities are bound up with the Faubourg. Yet the Faubourg doesn't overwhelm, but rather brings out their individualities. What the Characters Are and what they Do and where they Do it all come together in the Faubourg. In the Faubourg we have a strong sense of Place: everything fits together, yet things are so different: a "usine" (factory), a shop, a dance hall. They live and move about where they work. And the Faubourg is at the heart of Paris. We look out over the rooftops toward La Tour Eiffel and find Jo Jo playing idly on a bridge with Notre Dame de Paris in the background. The Faubourg is a synecdoche for Paris. And Paris is a synecdoche for the world.

* The acting is just excellent, from beginning to end. Nora Arnezeder gives us an absolutely convincing and utterly delightful Douce. She always gives us an absolutely convincing Douce as well. Not always easy to do. For example, she's just perfect in that extraordinary scene with Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu's well acted Galapiat in which she agrees ... ambiguously, reluctantly ... to give herself to him in return for his help. Wonderfully scripted, wonderfully delivered. Even minor characters deliver so well: who is that who plays the "retailer"? For whom Pigale's wife leaves him? I can't remember his name. But the way he looks at Jo Jo's mother is full of love and tenderness and irony and complexity ... all at the same time ... just perfect. Gérard Jugnot's Pigoil deserves a special round of applause. Pigoil is the first character of the Faubourg we meet, and the last we see. He is the most emblematic character of the Faubourg. And Jugnot delivers him perfectly. Clovis Cornillac's Milou is perfect. And so on. The casting is perfect, the delivery is perfect. What more could you want?

* The scenes are composed exquisitely. Think of the first part of Atonement, or of Girl with a Pearl Earring. Composition is detailed and careful but never, ever overwhelms the action. The scenes on stage in the Chansonia are as carefully crafted as the scenes off stage. The highly stylized scenes ... as in the on-stage scenes of "going to find the sea" ... are just perfect; as are the far less stylized, but nonetheless carefully crafted scenes off stage. This all makes for cinematography and composition that are just delightful.

* The emotional pace is wonderful. Pacing is always such a challenge IMHO especially in "musicals". This isn't (exactly) a "musical" but has that same feel, and it's critical to tell the tale of the Faubourg in such a way that things like humor and poignancy are conveyed in the right amounts and with the right timing. To me the timing in this movie is always on target. The tale of the Faubourg and of the Faubourg's inhabitants moves like gangbusters and yet without ever seeming hurried. The pacing is so much like Casablanca. Not a moment is wasted, but there's no hurry. My attention was captured and I was riveted from beginning to end. Yet the movie never tires or cloys ... the emotions go up and down and flow at just the right pace.

* The music is just delightful. All original ... yet written with a clear sense of tribute to the period; as everything in this movie gives us a clear sense of tribute to the period.

* Above all this is a movie that is full of humanity, of a rich sense of the dark as well as the light that is in the individuals and in the commune of the Faubourg. There is such a strong, strong sense of "l'humanite" in this "comedie humaine." I am deeply grateful to have been given an opportunity to gain a little closer experience of humanity, my own humanity and the humanity of those around me, by getting a little taste of the human experience in this Paris Faubourg of 1936.

Well that's what comes to my mind for now ... I may post more later. Delightful movie ... and still very much on my mind ... :)

Charles Delacroix