...which was so hard on him,Duvivier reigned over the French cinema during 40 years .He made films in America,in England ,in Italy ,in Germany.Which director of the New Wavelet can say the same? In Lille today ,Duvivier's native town,there 's no Duvivier street,no Duvivier school ,no Duvivier hospital.Do they even mention his name when they teach cinema at the university?.In Rouen ,one metro station is called François TRuffaut and that director was not even born here.
This is the silent version of Jules Renard's classic ,seven years before the talkie featuring Harry Baur and Robert Lynen .Once again all we have to do is stand and applause.Renard's book,made of small vignettes ,very short chapters,is very hard to transfer to the screen.As he would do in 1932,Duvivier -who was also a writer- selected several scenes he particularly liked in the novel (the hens,the little girl) and wrote a linear screenplay .The storyline of the remake is more assured for the 1925 treatment includes a love affair between Felix and a bad gal (not from the book) which sometimes gets in the way.
THis is minor quibble:"Poil de Carotte" is Duvivier at his best ;he 's second to none when it comes to depicting nastiness,and Madame Lepic epitomizes nastiness.This terrifying mustached shrew surpasses the histrionic strident missus of the second version.If smile could kill,hers probably would.She looks like a man with a wig:Duvivier probably wanted to show the father's weakness,his impossibility to be a man.
The young boy who portrays the miserable boy is as good as Robert Lynen .His face covered in freckles is so desperate ,so touching :he is literally begging to be loved .The first time he's wanted to commit suicide,he gives up ,because "it would sadden his friends".... the dog and the cat....The second time ,those sinister lines appear on the screen ,twice : the barn.....the beam....the rope....
As the precedent user ,a Duvivier specialist has pointed out, there are plenty of technical innovations,probably inspired by former experiments by Abel Gance : the specter in the sky when the brat goes to the hen house ;four or five boys are working around monsieur Lepic who realizes that his son has really got a raw deal;the merry-go-round and Poil de Carotte's head .The fair ,Duvivier already knew how to use it to startling effects:he would use it again,in an even more outstanding way in his 1945 masterpiece "Panique" .Too bad Duvivier did not treat the harrowing chapter "La Tempête des Feuilles" (=the leaves storm ).It would have fit a silent movie like a glove.
Duvivier's legendary pessimism is present,although there's some kind of happy end (Now there are two of us),the same as in the remake.A happy end when you know your mother will never give you any love ...like Jules Renard's own mother.It was a true story.
Like this?try these: Luis Bunuel:"los Olvidados" (1950) Luigi Comencini :"incompreso" (1967) Maurice Pialat: "L'Enfance Nue" (1968) Dardenne bros : "Rosetta" (1999)
