The Grand Illusion

Jean Renoir's The Grand Illusion (1937) is a classic that gains its energy and integrity from the manner in which its ideas and ideals about war are relevant—and, moreover, are prescient—about World War II. Renoir suggests that the brotherhood of class, though ever-present throughout earlier wars, is now fading and that commoners will begin to rise. This is, it seems, inevitable, but just as inevitable is the humanity of widowers on both fronts. This glimpse of humanity, ultimately, is what makes survivors struggle through the harshest instances of fascist war.

After French aristocrat Capt. de Boieldieu (Pierre Fresnay) is shot down by German pilots, the German prisoner camp commandant Capt. Von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim) invites him to eat and drink with him, granting that a bond between class should not be swayed by the tide of war. However, commoner French soldiers Lt. Maréchal (Jean Gabin) and Lt. Rosenthal (Marcel Dalio) join the captives’ plan to escape from this prisoner camp. Though plans are scrapped as camps are moved, the commoners eventually escape, though at the price of the mortally wounded de Boieldieu.

Capt. von Rauffenstein is one of the great figures of classic cinema, encouraged that one’s word binds one to another, regardless of sworn duties or changing times. Thus, when the French aristocrat de Boieldieu swears that are no plans are en route to escape, the German commandant accepts these words blindly. It is an aristocratic hope, and a yearning in the German Captain’s mind to return to those times when one’s word as a friend and gentleman was gold.

Renoir’s entire film exists as testimony to a point in time where the old upper-class society meant that camaraderie existed between enemies of war, having cups of tea and reminiscing about family histories. Codes of honor thus existed for these individuals, and their lives were mourned by the other, who recognizes, albeit stoically, the collapse of the old way as another of the old guard passes, as von Rauffenstein’s line notes, “May the earth lie lightly upon our valiant enemy.” However, it is just as much about the love that will unite individuals once the war is formally ended, regardless of nations, as seen in Elsa’s desperate need to know of love after her husband and brothers were sacrificed in the war. This humanity on every facet is rendered just real enough to know of each emotional injury, be it physical or mental.

The film strangely does not crescendo with Lt. Maréchal and Elsa, though, because Renoir aspires to something more truthful. While Lt. Maréchal may return for Elsa, the war’s longevity may just as well take its toll on him. Either way, it is the final line of the film that offers this film its transcendent moment: as Lt. Maréchal and Lt. Rosenthal reach the German/Swiss border, the German soldiers chasing them bless them for crossing into safety.

The Grand Illusion: 10/10