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French Comedy on Screen: A Cinematic History PDF

271 Pages·2014·11.054 MB·English
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French Comedy on Screen This page intentionally left blank French Comedy on Screen A Cinematic History Rémi Fournier Lanzoni FRENCH COMEDY ON SCREEN Copyright © Rémi Fournier Lanzoni, 2014 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014978-1-349-34143-6 All rights reserved. First published in 2014 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN978-1-349-34143-6 ISBN 978-1-137-10019-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-10019-1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lanzoni, Rémi Fournier. French comedy on screen : a cinematic history / Rémi Fournier Lanzoni. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-230-33842-5 (alk. paper) 1. Comedy films—France—History and criticism. I. Title. PN1995.9.C55L37 2014 791.43’6170944—dc23 2014020180 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by SPi Global. First edition: October 2014 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents List of Figures vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1 The Early Comedies of the Sound Era 15 I. Forerunner Comedies in the 1930s: Chansonniers and Musical Comedies 15 II. From Military Vaudeville to Comique Troupier 24 III. Sacha Guitry and the Auteur Theory 34 IV. Period Comedies: When Humor Challenged History 40 V. Regional Comedies: The Provence of Marcel Pagnol 49 VI. Verbal Comedy Meets Parisian Slang 59 2 The Comedies of Postwar France 69 I. Social Satires in Postwar France 70 II. Comedies and World War II 80 III. Gangster Comedies as Popular Cinema 97 IV. From Regional to National Stardom: The Case of Fernandel 104 V. Jacques Tati and Burlesque Humor 110 3 Comedy in the Modern Era 121 I. The Spirit of the Times: The 1970s and 1980s 121 II. The Early Development of Race-Based Satires 127 III. Comedies on Nonconformity and Homosexuality 139 IV. Gender Roles and Comedies of Manners 152 V. The Newcomers of French Comedy: Le Splendide 156 VI. When Comedy Challenges French Institutions 162 VII. Pierre Richard and the Renewal of Burlesque Comedy 168 vi ● Contents 4 French Comedy Today 175 I. Communitarian Humor: Ethnic Diversity and Cinematic Space 175 II. From Stand-Up to Big Screen Comedy: Les Inconnus’ Social Satire 198 III. Screening New Sexual Encounters: Gazon Maudit 207 IV. Comedy as a Social Phenomenon 213 Appendix: Box Office in France (in Million Entrances) 229 Notes 231 Bibliography 247 Index 253 List of Figures 1.1 Raimu in Les gaîtés de l’escadron (The Cheerful Squadron, 1932) by Maurice Tourneur 32 1.2 Sacha Guitry in Le roman d’un tricheur (The Story of a Cheat, 1936) by Sacha Guitry 39 1.3 Jean Témerson, Louis Jouvet, and Harry Baur in Volpone (1941) by Maurice Tourneur 42 1.4 Fernand Charpin and Fernandel in Le schpountz (Heartbeat, 1938) by Marcel Pagnol 52 1.5 Michel Simon in Boudu sauvé des eaux (Boudu Saved from Drowning, 1932) by Jean Renoir 60 1.6 Arletty, Michel Simon, and Fernandel in Fric-Frac (1939) by Maurice Lehmann and Claude Autant-Lara 64 2.1 Michel Simon in La poison (1951) by Sacha Guitry 76 2.2 Jean Gabin and Bourvil in La traversée de Paris (Four Full Bags, 1956) by Claude Autant-Lara 84 2.3 Fernandel in La vache et le prisonnier (The Cow and I, 1959) by Henri Verneuil 90 2.4 Bourvil and Louis de Funès in La grande vadrouille (Don’t Look Now! We’re Being Shot At, 1966) by Gérard Oury 96 2.5 Lino Ventura, Bernard Blier, and Francis Blanche in Les tontons flingueurs (Monsieur Gangster, 1963) by Georges Lautner 100 2.6 Jacques Tati in Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot (Mr. Hulot’s Holiday, 1953) by Jacques Tati 110 viii ● List of Figures 3.1 Michel Serrault and Ugo Tognazzi in La cage aux folles (1978) by Edouard Molinaro 140 3.2 André Dussollier, Michel Boujenah, and Roland Giraud in Trois hommes et un couffin (Three Men and a Cradle, 1985) by Coline Serreau 152 3.3 Michel Blanc in Les bronzés (French Fried Vacations, 1978) by Patrice Leconte 159 3.4 Philippe Noiret and Thierry Lhermitte in Les ripoux (My New Partner, 1984) by Claude Zidi 164 4.1 José Garcia, Vincent Elbaz, Bruno Solo, Gilbert Melki, and Richard Anconina in La vérité si je mens III (Would I Lie to You III, 2012) by Thomas Gilou 187 4.2 Franck Gastambide, Jib Pocthier, and Medi Sadoun in Les Kaïra (2012) by Franck Gastambide 193 4.3 Pascal Legitimus, Didier Bourdon, and Bernard Campan in Les rois mages (The Three Kings, 2001) by Didier Bourdon and Bernard Campan 202 4.4 Josiane Balasko, Victoria Abril, and Alain Chabat in Gazon maudit (French Twist, 1995) by Josiane Balasko 208 4.5 Jean Reno and Christian Clavier in Les visiteurs (The Visitors, 1993) by Jean-Marie Poiré 213 4.6 Anne Marivin, Guy Lecluyse, Dany Boon, Zoé Félix, Kad Merad, and Philippe Duquesne in Bienvenue chez les ch’tis (Welcome to the Sticks, 2008) by Dany Boon 222 Acknowledgments I would like to express my gratitude to my friend and film historian Raymond Chirat who allowed me access to some invaluable materials, especially in the Bibliothèque Raymond Chirat at the Institut Lumière in Lyon. I truly bene- fited from the many afternoons spent at his home in Lyon, discussing French comedies during the summers of 2012 and 2013. My sincere thanks to Armel Bourdoulous from the Institut Lumière in Lyon who was able to assemble press kits on many French movies, filmmakers, and actors. I am most grate- ful to Lauren Corbett and Mary Reeves from the Wake Forest University Library for their kind assistance in acquiring numerous audiovisual titles on my behalf, thus allowing me to view a very large number of French films, some of them for the first time. I am indebted to Wake Forest University for granting me research leave in France during the fall of 2013 which gave me the necessary time to finish the writing of this book. Many thanks to Swathi Padmanabhan and her team from Palgrave Macmillan for the very thorough copy-editing services. I am also grateful to Alan Singerman for his excellent advice on translating into English some of the French dialogues included in this book. My everlasting thanks also go to Peter Bondanella who endorsed the book project as well as several of my previous publications on Italian cinema. As always my friends Vincent Rodet in Lyon and Linda Alexander at Clemson University have supported me with their thoughtful suggestions. Finally, many thanks to my brother, Jérôme Fournier-Lanzoni, who helped in the digital processing of the illustrations of this book.

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