Le réalisme poétique

In France's cinema of the 1930's, a significant voice would be heard loud and strong - and that was Poetic Realism. This genre was labelled as such, for it was during this decade when these specific films  produced, were each in their way, inspired from realist literature, primarily in the vain of writers such as Honore de Balzac , and also from a poetry verbatim of the French working class. The signature tones of these productions are frequently foreboding and of soul's dark hours, so dark that in fact, fatalism is it's only outlet of comical reprieve.

 

These realist films were not dissimilar to earlier German expressionist works, they would both equally host a certain angst, fraught atmospheres and a collective malaise, that would parallel the social embitterment and the sign of the political times. The narratives would often center on felonious acts and unrequited love predicaments. Often times the protagonist of these such stories would be seen as heroically futile, and there would be no better poster boy example of this than dynamo actor extraordinaire, Jean Gabin, who was long considered the "Parisian Bogart." Gabin was incessantly cast as a tragic archetype, pathos inducing , he is the beautiful loser. Gabin was the very personification of realism and if anything could be more apposite, it was the poetry of his soul that made these movies work. Jean Gabin went far beyond the parameters of just acting - he bled for his craft

                  Gabin epitomized  poetic realism's anti-hero

The Poetic realist auteurs were also heavily influenced by French crime and mystery authors in the likes of Eugene Dabit, Pierre MacOrlan and Georges Simenon, and  at times by their American counterparts, as James M. Cain who penned the wildly popular The Postman Always Rings Twice. In 1939, his provocative work would see it's very first screen adaptation by noted French director Pierre Chenal

                                  Chenal No. 5

Jean Renoir's work itself, also encompassed poetic realism, as seen in 1931's La chienne, which additionally contained many inflections of the German Strassenfilm (Street film); and Julien Duvivier in 1937 with his moody Algerian set
crime film;  Pepe le Moko. Duvivier's film was a prescient proto-noir that was an optical labyrinthine adventure with it's visions of the city. However, it would be helmer Marcel Carne during his collaborative efforts with scripter Jacques Prevert that would solidify with perfection, the poetic realist's vision. Hôtel du Nord   (1938), Le quai des brumes (1938) and  Le Jour se lève (1939) were the duo's defining releases that set the genre's bar. The common denominator of these three aforementioned films, was that they shared a thread  of hopelessness, innocence and a stark fatalism that is emboldened by Alexandre Trauner's designs which have a foundation in realism and yet a tenuous painterly resplendence.

                                                                          From canvas...

                   ... To screen via the inimitable artist A. Trauner

Many of these films have been confused for film noir given their aesthetic and lighting. In their day, they would be acclaimed in France, and were fast becoming of interest and garnering admiration by British and American audiences. These realist films would be touted because of their refinement and arresting visual qualities. Many realist entries would be remade in America, but in their retelling, stylized as more misanthropic and sardonic than the original productions. When director Fritz Lang was living and working abroad in the states, he would remake both La chienne (1938) and La Bête Humaine  (1938) and transform them into  Scarlet Street (1945) and Human Desire (1954) Only an auteur like Fritz Lang could deliver such justice, as he would  in these interpretations of Renoir's earlier masterpieces 

                  Lang gets poetic with a little Human Desire.

Poetic realism proved quite seminal and would be the inspiration for many other international film movements to come. It would serve as afflatus for the Italians as they would go on to construct and cultivate it into their own statement, which was neo-realism (neo-realismo) between the years of 1944 and 1952 . France's Nouvelle Vague, (the French New wave), also relied on poetic realism as muse and would see its golden age between 1958 and 1964. Nouvelle Vague actually still exists as we speak -  meaning in essence, there is still a beating heart for poetic realism nearly a century after it commenced.