Year: 1955
Director: Jean Renoir
Country: France
Language: French
French Director Francois Truffaut (Jules & Jim) was a film reviewer in Arts magazine at the time Jean Renoir's French Cancan hit theatres in 1955. Truffaut felt that it was a milestone in the history of colour cinema, yet did not consider it as important as Rules of the Game (1939) or The Golden Coach (1952). The picture did fairly well at the box office in its country and received the Grand Prix de l'Academie du Cinéma in 1956.
French Cancan chronicles the revival of Paris' most notorious dance as it tells the story of a theater producer who turns a humble washerwoman into a star at the Moulin Rouge.
The only other film I've seen about the Moulin Rouge has been Baz Luhrmann's obnoxious hyper-stylized "musical" (albeit not a note in the film is original) Moulin Rouge! It's a film so terrible that it makes Jean Renoir's French Cancan look like Citizen Kane in comparison. With this picture Renoir creates an impressive personal statement about the collaborative arts. It is an artist's tribute to art, thus it is quite detailed and honest.
The film has a remarkable amount of pastel-coloured backgrounds. The costumes are vibrant and alluring as well. The staging of the actors and position of the camera, combined with beautiful set design give the film a fairy-tale atmosphere where anything and everything is possible. Just as the screen bursts with color, we are taken in by a wide range of emotion from the actors. In less than two hours we find ourselves blown away by this roller-coaster of passion & torment.
French Cancan is a film I've wanted to see for a long time, but I have never been able to get around to it. I had high hopes for this film, especially considering the high status of the Director, and I was certainly pleased by the results. Should Criterion ever upgrade this to blu-ray I will certainly buy it.
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