French Cancan (1954) is Jean Renoir comedic drama about Nini, a poor laundress that is recruited as a Cancan dancer by Henri Danglard, proprietor of recently bankrupt cafe. Romance and jealousy ensue as Nini dances through life and love eventually finding herself the star of the Moulin Rouge.
This film was shot using the very beautiful Technicolor process during its heyday, very shortly after it became
possible to strike a color print from a single camera negative. This process combined with the amazing restoration job by The Criterion Collection results in colors that pop right off the screen. This is one of the few color films that I've seen from Renoir and you can tell that he thrived in the medium. You can tell that this film's lavish style was an inspiration to Baz Luhrmann's 2001 picture "Moulin Rouge!"
The two stars of this film, Jean Gabin (Danglard) and Francoise Arnoul as Nini give the films film's best performances. Their charisma provides the emotional core and the supporting cast gives the audience its comic relief. I especially loved the performance by Philippe Clay as Casimir le Serpentin. He's a tall and lanky all around showman who comes up with witty songs that seem to narrate the antics that transpire throughout the film. Overall, the cast put on great performances in the story as well as the set pieces.
Ultimately, this film actually turned out to be a bit of a disappointment to me. There is nothing specifically wrong with it but if you are comparing it to Renoir's greatest, it doesn't measure up. This is a shame because the first third of the story seems to be treading on his most familiar ground. Renoir has made some amazing stories of the 'haves' and their relationships and codependencies with the 'have nots'. This film begins this way, with essentially a broke art peddler begging for money from the rich and labor and love from the poor. Unfortunately, the film seems to abandon this theme around the halfway mark. It is definitely worth a watch but I would consider "The Lower Depths" and "The Rules of the Game" necessary prerequisites.
possible to strike a color print from a single camera negative. This process combined with the amazing restoration job by The Criterion Collection results in colors that pop right off the screen. This is one of the few color films that I've seen from Renoir and you can tell that he thrived in the medium. You can tell that this film's lavish style was an inspiration to Baz Luhrmann's 2001 picture "Moulin Rouge!"The two stars of this film, Jean Gabin (Danglard) and Francoise Arnoul as Nini give the films film's best performances. Their charisma provides the emotional core and the supporting cast gives the audience its comic relief. I especially loved the performance by Philippe Clay as Casimir le Serpentin. He's a tall and lanky all around showman who comes up with witty songs that seem to narrate the antics that transpire throughout the film. Overall, the cast put on great performances in the story as well as the set pieces.
Enjoy.
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