Beautifully photographed, this comedy-drama 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. Renoir’s return to film-making in France after 15 years of absence is an exuberant and affectionate homage to the theatre of ‘La Belle Epoque’ (Edith Piaf and Patachou appear briefly as stars of the day.) It also gave him the opportunity to work with Gabin again, having made three films with him in the 1930s. According to Raymond Durgnat, Renoir’s can-can dancers “unleash the insolence not only of proletarian energy, but of the aggressive female, and storm the 19th century bourgeois male patriarchy… A river of feminine energy flows devastatingly, but not destructively, through society”.
Credits: Producer, Louis Wipf ; director, Jean Renoir ; writer, Jean Renoir ; photography, Michel Kelber ; music, Georges Van Parys ; art direction, Max Douy ; costumes, Rosine Delamare ; assistant director, Pierre Kast.
Cast: Jean Gabin, Francoise Arnoul, Maria Felix, Jean-Roger Caussimon, Gianni Esposito.
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
X000418
Language
French
Subject category
Foreign language films
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
16mm film; Limited Access Print (Section 2)