Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Raymond Bernard's Le Miserables
Raymond Bernard's 1934 Les Miserables seems more sophisticated and is more clearly an individual's artistic vision than what was, in general, happening contemporaneously in Hollywood. It is a big film, close to five hours long in three parts.
Bernard's camera often looks at the world of Valjean, Javert and company through a slightly skewed angle that is considered more common with the German expressionists. There is such a high degree of craft in Bernard's filmmaking it makes me wonder why he has not received more notoriety among international film buffs. Bernard impresses me as someone not afraid to be a bit experimental to get his point across. For instance there is the night carriage retreat of Valjean. Spotlights shine out into the void on at point of view of the driver. Day for night was not yet possible the motion and intensity here draw the viewer in much more effectively than much of the standard use of dark filters.
Bernard had been making films beginning in the mid-silent prior for 15 years prior to his version of Les Miserables. And his sense of craft is so apparent that parts of it feel, if not timeless, much more contemporary than a film made 74 years ago. A great variety in choices of angle, perspective, and tone. The first and third parts each have a distinct kind of tone and feeling to them. For instance, the fist half hour of part three feels like a 1832 version of Battle of Algiers. The focus is on barricade making and revolt preparations with a sense of detail and purpose. Music is not heard on the soundtrack until a very impressive shot of a model of Paris just before shots are fired.
If there is a low point in this film, it is a good part of the second part that involves the actions of the Thénardiers, the inn keeper folks who were Cosette's caretakers and later try their hand at larceny of the primary characters later on. The closed interior sets and staginess of this section contrasts greatly to the exteriors of Valjean's flight in part one and the concentration of the uprising in part three. Bernard seems restricted when the emphasis is on dialog and mise en scene. He is a dynamic director.
Harry Baur (as Valjean and other numerous aliases the character takes on) certainly is a large presence on the screen. Like Depardieu and Noiret later in French cinematic history, there is physical girth combined with a likability the gives this actor a true screen charisma. This version of Les Miserables is my introduction to him and I hope to see more of his eighty films in the future. He died as the result of Gestapo interrogation in 1943. This is a shame, he seems to me the kind of actor who would be very effective in the roles of patriarchs and strong-willed elders.
Wikipedia lists 45 film versions of Les Miserables. That means on average, there was some kind of Les Miserables release almost every two years since film became a popular medium. I don't have facility to venture why this is except perhaps to guess it is because it addresses its tale from both the perspective of personal story and epic struggle, two essential elements in drama that film can address and deliver well.
Praises again to the Criterion/Eclipse collections. I appreciate them introducing me to Bernard. I thoroughly enjoyed the Late Ozu collection and will be working my way through the Malle Documentaries in the next week or so.
posted by well-executed buffet at 6:41 PM
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