Focusing only on the film's mise en scene (lighting, shot composition, set design, costume design), discuss this quote from the Robin Wood essay I gave you:
"How to belong, how to meet"--another way of putting it is to say that Renoir's perennial concern is with the boundaries; that keep people apart and the possibility of transcending them. The four-part structure enables him to develop this theme through a network of shifting, interlocking relationships presented consistently in terms of difference and the overcoming of difference.
Your response should be 2 paragraphs long and should include a correctly cited quote from one of the essays I gave you.
Grand Illusion was a film well known for its structure as a film and distinction of social structure, as well as the structure of composition within the frame. In the second pow camp, we see two aristocrats of opposing nationalities who hold themselves to higher standards and intentions than those of their comrades, which causes the two to identify more to each other than their companions. This demarkation is further displayed in their uniforms, signifying those of high ranking. The two slip into German or English at times to speak to each other privately, as their companions are not of the same level of education. In contrast, Marechal, a Parisian mechanic, does not find as much in common with the French aristocrat, de Boeldieu. This divide in class sets a clear boundary between the educated and the less educated. This is further represented in the fourth section of this film when Marechal and Rosenthal are running away from the pow camp and their uniforms are caked with dirt. However, the two are last seen in a bright, open field, making their way towards freedom, not tied down with their sense of duty. Meanwhile, von Rauffenstein, the German aristocrat is plagued with this, as represented by his cluttered, yet elegant chambers within the camp. Yet all of these characters are united in one camp, sharing their common experiences, regardless of nationality. Rosenthal limps throughout his escape, a small injury in comparison to von Rauffenstein, who wears a body brace and pristine white gloves (much like de Boeldieu's) to mask the burns and tolls the war has taken on him. All of these signify the strength in the old order of European civilization, which is constantly symbolized by a window, "which stresses separation, and a boundary that can be crossed or communicated across" according to Robin Wood.
ReplyDeleteEven with the division of class, there is a division of sexuality/gender. The boys at the first pow camp dress up in women's clothes to put on a show for all. When a man first tries on the clothes, he is surrounded with soft lighting to make him appear more feminine, all the other men fall silent and stop in their tracks when hey see him, overcome with "nostalgia for women", as Robin Wood put it. All in all, Renior captures the essence in his film by saying: "If a French farmer found himself dining with a French financier, those two Frenchmen would have nothing to say to each other. But if a French farmer meets with a Chinese farmer, they will find any amount to talk about".
ReplyDeleteWhat I noticed about the Mise-En Scene when watching Grand Illusion, is that the use of the lighting gives the film a bleak and dark vision on how people were treated by their social class during WW1, which shows a low-key lighting on the subjects to show how they were treated in that time period. However at some scenes of the movie there is the use of the high-key lighting to give a meaning of a hopeful situation for when the two prisoners escape the prison they were incarcerated in.The use of the shot composition that the director decides to use is the rule of thirds by filming the subject all in a frame but by framing the subjects and their POV in a window frame in that shot. He also uses the rule of thirds by framing these subjects with the Foreground, Middleground, and the Background, in an establishing shot in most scenes of the movie. The set design that is used in the film give a feel of the social class of imprisonment even though it gives the upper class a more luxurious lifestyle than the lower and working class, it also gives a sense of empowerment over the lower classes to the upper class. However when the two main characters that share the same likings for each other but are in different social classes, the scenery changes to the same rundown set design when they are in the same frame as one another.The costume design gives a feeling of the struggle that the lower class endured during that time period. It also give a meaning about the treatment to other lower classes before WW2 such as the rising tensions between the treatment of the jewish population living in europe and people who disagree with the jewish living around that area.
Robin Wood’s essay explains the film’s Mise-En-Scene and the diversity of the social class and how it separated social interaction and how people communicated with each other which set people apart and had a little hatred between the classes. This is all explained in the film when in the movie’s Mise-En-Scene gives a distinct implicit meaning about the social class. This is show when in the Third sequence of the film where it shows the prison castle full of prisoners most of the place which is inhabited by the prisoners, lives in rundown rooms and the upper class living in a luxury style lifestyle. Which like I before, gives that meaning about the treatment of the social class. According to Robin Wood, “The third section introduces von Rauffenstein and the development and culmination of Boieldieu/von Rauffenstein alignment/separation. A leading concern here again connects the film to Regle du jeu: the notion that the aristocratic order the two men represent that they will not survive the war”. What this also explains is that it gives a representation about the separation of some the prisoner's families had to endure when they were incarcerated in prison camps during WW1 and gives a outlook from the prisoner's perspective about the war and they will not survive it.
Just like the war it makes central to its plot, Jean Renoir’s is a film that makes itself extremely preoccupied with alliances and class division. From very early on, and continuing throughout the movie, we see the separation between commoners/working class mechanic Marechal and the other members of the first and second POW camp, and the aristocratic/high class de Boeldieu. Although we see in the first camp that de Boeldieu is “apart” from the rest of the group, it is made even clearer in the second POW camp. With the reintroduction of von Rauffenstein, the separation between de Boeldieu and Marechal and Rosenthal is made extremely apparent, as de Boeldieu and Rauffenstein converse easily and often, sliding dexterously between German, French and English. They share extremely similar tastes and experiences – dining at the same locations, meeting/courting the same woman at different times - even wearing extremely similar aristocratic white gloves. Renoir depicts the two as being caught in a way of living that is becoming obsolete – indeed, when the characters respectively put on their white gloves, it feels like an act of desperation, a last attempt to somewhat preserve a dissolving class system that, at the very least, had a use of the two of them. As a result, we see the two connect in a way that de Boeldieu and Marechal never could. The divide between the two is shown even on the screen; the two are often set apart from each other when they are together, and the dialogue in particular reflects that; much of their conversation feels forced or, at the very least, chily. However, we see the two finally reach an agreement of sorts as de Boeldieu chooses to sacrifice himself to allow the other two to escape, coming to terms with the fact that living through the war means finding himself in a world that has passed him by. Indeed, it is only at the end of the third part – in the second POW camp - that he truly reaches an understanding with Marechal, as ultimately their shared experience (from war) overrules their class divides.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the class divide is made heavily apparent with the characters of de Boeldieu and von Rauffenstein, the character of Rosenthal presents an idea of how the class gap can be abridged. In the movie, Rosenthal represents the just-emerging Bourgeois class, as compared to the Aristocrats of centuries passed such as de Boeldieu. Rosenthal is new money, so to speak, and through him we see the gap between high and low bridged; he shares the food parcels he receives, and is generally scene as a kind, generous person (an interesting rebuttle of Jewish stereotypes of the time). However, we still see the sort of class lines emerge occasionally, particularly earlier in the movie in the first POW camp, where he talks about his background. Within that scene, he feels like an outsider, and from the way he talks it seems as though he is not even aware that there are men in that room who did not have it nearly as well as he did. He is even framed separately from the rest of the group. However, at the end, we find that gap lessened again, particularly with him and Marechal being on the lamb, made particularly evident through the costume design; both wear the same, dirty, ragged clothes, showing that even though they come from different backgrounds, the similar experiences they share through war can ultimately bring them together. It is this feeling of shared experience that seemingly drives the alliances and divides throughout the whole movie. As Renoir says, if a Chinese farmer and Chinese financier met, they would have nothing to talk about; but “If a French farmer meets with a Chinese farmer, they will find any amount to talk about.”
Zach: I love what you have to say, but I need you to speak more cinematically. What do we specifically see within the frame?
DeleteIn Grand Illusion, director Jean Renoir uses WW1 as a lens through which to examine Europe as it faces the rising of fascism. Renoir's criticism of politics and ideology reveals the common humanity that transcends racial boundaries and radical nationalism, suggesting that mankind's common experiences should prevail above political and social division, and war.
ReplyDeleteGrand Illusion examines the relationships between different social classes in Europe. Two of the main characters, de Boeldieu and von Rauffenstein, are aristocrats. They are represented as cosmopolitan men, educated in many cultures and conversant in several languages. Their level of education and their devotion to social conventions and rituals makes them feel closer to each other than to the lower class of their own nation. They share similar social and political experiences. They converse with each other in French and German, and in moments of personal conversation, “escape” into English as if to hide these comments from their lower class associates. Throughout the whole movie both characters wear their officer uniforms the whole time and also shown they are connected through their fur and white gloves. Marechal, of the lower class, did not understand why he would want to escape in white gloves, but von Rauffenstein most likely would have because he wore them as well.
Renoir depicts the rule of the aristocracy as in decline, to be replaced by a new, emerging social order. He emphasizes that their class is no longer essential to their nation's politics. Renoir contrasts the aristocrats with characters such as Marechal, a mechanic from Paris who wears darker dingier clothes. The lower class characters have little in common with each other; they have different interests and are not worldly in their views or education. Nonetheless, they have a relationship too, through common experience. Renoir's message is made clear when the aristocrat de Boeldieu sacrifices himself by distracting the prison guards through dance, song, and smoking his cigarette, to allow Maréchal and Rosenthal, members of the lower class, to escape. De Boeldieu takes comfort in the idea that "For a commoner, dying in a war is a tragedy. But for you and me, it's a good way out", and states that he pities von Rauffenstein who will struggle to find a purpose in the new social order of the world where his traditions, experiences, and background will be obsolete. “The film's basic assumption—that "difference" is socially constructed but so thoroughly internalized and so strongly institutionalized as to be very difficult to overcome—is dramatized in the parallels between the two headquarters (French/German) which are identical in structure but different in every detail, the details insisting upon "Frenchness" and "German-ness" respectively”-Robin Wood.
Makayla: Again, like Zach, I like what you have to say, but you need to back up your statements with evidence from within the frame. How are the characters framed? Where are they placed? What is their relative size in the frame? Etc.
DeleteJulia Ziaja
ReplyDeleteGrand Illusion by Jean Renoir is very well known for its use of structure and mise-en-scene to highlight the types of relationships between characters. From the very beginning we notice that the bond of being prisoners of war is sometimes less important compared to the bond of class and rank. Similarly ranked officers and former members of the same social class tend to communicate and understand each other better. This is seen particularly between a French higher ranked officer named de Boeldieu and the German head officer in charge of their camp. They each find the other ones company comforting in a place where no one else has quite the same interests and level of education. Their similarity in uniform and their tendency to go back and forth from German to English illustrates their relationship as one of understanding and companionship. Despite their closeness, the audience is harshly reminded that in times of war these relationships mean nothing in the larger scale of things. The head German officer is forced to shoot de Boeldieu in a series of rapid camera movements back and forth from Boeldieu and the head officer as he attempts to “run away.” Even at de Boeldieu's death bed the German officer immediately understands the reason for his actions and acknowledges his death with respect and relates to his reasons with the camera including them both within the frame.
Another section where this deeper understanding of background comes in is when Marechal and Rosenthal are running away and end up being taken in by a single woman and her young daughter. Their similar situations, fears and background allow the two men to completely fit in within her lifestyle even though they differ in nationalities and sides of the war. The tight shed she finds them in may have cinematic symbolism to represent that even though their sides are different, the world is a small place and that they have more similarities with each other than they think. The great director Orson Welles, said about Renoir… "If I had only one film in the world to save, it would be Grand Illusion."
The importance of the film, “Grand Illusion,” which is directed by Renoir, is the overall theme that can be extracted from the impeccable film. It is important to understand the tactics implemented in order to cinematically achieve the implied meaning that there is a sense of humanitarianism that exists inside of every human being, and thus allows deeply rooted issues of race, and culture, do transcend regional boarders and allow empathetic exchanges beyond two people that may otherwise be pegged as enemies.
ReplyDeleteThe composition of the camera allows the spectator to feel involved in the film as if they are taking an active part in silently witnessing what is unfolding on the screen. This is evident in the instances where we see exchanges being made, from a room leading off the room of which the subjects inhabit, and we can see the door open and framing them. The redundancy of medium and long shots allows for this to be further instilled, and furthermore allows for the film to, just like it’s implicit message, be universal.
Issues of class are also extremely clear when we witness Marechal’s difficulty with identifying with the two aristocrats, Von Rauffenstein and de Boeldiue. However, Boeldieu’s line suggesting that the aristocrats of the world will soon diminish and become obsolete, further carries out the overarching theme of the movie in that even the wealthy find it in themselves to identify with those below themselves.
When Marechal defies all feelings against Germany during the war and falls in love with Elsa, local prejudices are squashed by a transcending sense of humanism.
Because of the necessity of this underlying theme, Orson Welles comments, “If I had only one film in the world to save, it would be Grand Illusion,” an echo of praising comments that resound in past times and times to come.
Hannah: Great comments, but you need to include more descriptive, concrete evidence from within the frame.
DeleteGrand Illusion is a 1937 French War film (one of the first) which set one of the foundations for prison war films in the future. This film is well known for its ability to use mise-en-scene to display certain boundaries through relations of people in scenes. We notice immediately from the start that in times of great distress(war) the bond between prisoners is nowhere near as unifying as the bond between rank and class outside of war times. This is evident with Boeldieu and a German officer(Rauffenstein) who separate themselves from the other prisoners and prison guards with things such as what they wear and how they occasionally speak English for more secretive moments. In addition, there is a massive division of sexuality. This is suggested by how the prisoners dressed up in womens clothing. When putting on the show for the other men, the actors portraying female characters are shot with a soft lighting, and generally medium shots to display things such as legs.
ReplyDeleteIn the end, the distinctive relationship between De Boeldieu and Rauffenstein is tested when Rauffenstein is forced to shoot Boeldieu. However, Rauffenstein understands why Boeldieu would do such a thing and provides him with the comforting fact that for either of these men to die in war, its a “good way out”, but for a common man, not so much. Again we see the distinction that Rauffenstein and Boeldieu apply to themselves to separate themselves from others. Shown in the Robin Wood essay, “A leading concern...the notion that the aristocratic order the two men represent will not survive the war.” The two men referenced are Rauffenstein and Boeldieu. I personally believe that Robin Wood is trying to express that this is the reasoning behind Boeldieu sacrificing himself is because he knows that there is nothing left for him after the war and that Rosenthal and Marechal are the ones who will truly benefit from the end of the war.
Adil: More concrete evidence from within the frame is needed. When Boeldieu sacrifices himself, look at the shots and how he and von Raufenstein are framed, how large they are in the frame respectively, and where they are placed in the frame.
DeleteAdil: More concrete evidence from within the frame is needed. When Boeldieu sacrifices himself, look at the shots and how he and von Raufenstein are framed, how large they are in the frame respectively, and where they are placed in the frame.
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ReplyDelete"How to belong, how to meet"--another way of putting it is to say that Renoir's perennial concern is with the boundaries; that keep people apart and the possibility of transcending them. The four-part structure enables him to develop this theme through a network of shifting, interlocking relationships presented consistently in terms of difference and the overcoming of difference. The film, “Grand Illusion” produced in 1937, shows many elements of mise-en-scene. First, the social classes implemented into the film. Our two main characters in the film, de Boeldieu and von Rauffenstein are well educated in both language and in war. Having shared both social and political interests, they become the type that bond throughout the film, as opposed to the lower class. The higher class in which they are in, contributes to their character, in how in the scheme of things, knowledge is power. Since they are more intelligent, they are able to think of things that the other low class patrons could not. They shift between German and English throughout the movie which emphasizes their closeness to each other, and growth throughout the film. As well as that, they speak in different languages so their companions with them in a lower rank wouldn’t understand them. Moving more towards social class, it is apparent in the end that the weak prevail, even through major troubles along the way. (The lower social class.) Marechal and Rosenthal manage to escape, and the final shot of the film is of them in a wide open land trekking through snow. This shows that they have all of this new land to be free in, or show that they made it through all of their troubles, in this extremely light shot of the snow. The high contrast lighting signifies freedom, and happiness, something to be excited for to finally make it.
ReplyDeleteErik: Like the others, you need to give solid, concrete evidence from within the frame to back up your statements. (Read my comments to your colleagues.)
DeleteErik: Like the others, you need to give solid, concrete evidence from within the frame to back up your statements. (Read my comments to your colleagues.)
DeleteThe conveyance of boundaries is clearly important to Grand Illusion and Renoir's message. Through the mise-en-scene we can see this within the frame. This can be most effectively seen in part three. The second camp is a stark contrast to the first. The shadows are noticeably heavier, the rooms and hallways are large with little to nothing inside them. In most scenes through every window rather than seeing the sky there are only more walls. These windows constantly frame characters with borders representing the bars of a cage. In another scene lighting is put to good use as two of the main characters are prodding at a squirrel in a cage, the bold shadow of this cage just vaguely casts over the shadow of de Boldieu himself highlighting his captivity. Here all men although separated by social boundaries are united by their oppression, even von Rauffenstein "(now with broken vertebrae, in a sense as much a prisoner as the men he is in charge of)." Rauffenstein is separated however from the others much in the way de Boldieu is, through nobility, visually depicted in their similar upper class apparel and fondness for white gloves. Their nobility however serves as the strongest boundaries, as neither of them leave the prison camp in the end.
ReplyDeleteThe final chapter involves the escape of Maréchal and Rosenthal. These two men, once separated by race and religion are now visually linked through their filthy dirt caked clothes, yet both find warmth in the brighter, open field of freedom. As well we can see their bonds beyond the boundaries strengthen as they assist in the decorations for the Christmas celebration. The festive, friendly setting, overpowers their differences in religion.
“How to belong, how to meet”, this quote describes the meaning behind the story of Grand Illusion. The movie is based around people of different cultures and social backgrounds coming together and putting aside their differences. The men find similarities between each other and in that way they belong together as friends. The question is then how to meet. This question is answered by a pow camp where all the characters converse with each other.
ReplyDeleteIn the camp the lighting is very Low-key with sharp differences between light and shadow. This creates closeness between the characters by bringing them into the light. The mise en scene of the camp is dirty and dark as a pow camp should be. With the grogy environment around them the prisoners have no choice but to befriend one another in their depressing situation. They all also belong to a simlair working class that has them relate with each other. “What the Frenchman knows and the German won't admit is that the new world belongs to commoners”- Roger Ebert. The open space of the on scene location later in the movie opens up the space for the characters finally freeing them from the juxtaposed closed in prison walls.