Jean Grémillon: During the Occupation

This Eclipse box set—part of Criterion's extra-less line—introduces American audiences to Jean Grémillon, an acclaimed French director from the 1930s and '40s who is largely unknown on this side of the Atlantic, presenting three of his most respected films that were originally released during the German occupation of France. Recalling the poetic realist dramas of the 1930s, Remorques (1941) stars Jean Gabin as André Laurent, the captain of a tugboat crew working the stormy waters off his Brittany shipping town. Married to Yvonne (Madeleine Renaud), André falls for a beautiful woman named Catherine (Michèle Morgan), whom he rescues during a mission. In Lumière d'Été (1943), considered by critics to be his masterpiece, Grémillon takes viewers to an isolated mountain town, where he contrasts the decadence of the petty rich ensconced in a luxury hotel owned by a former Parisian dancer, Cri-Cri (Renaud again), with the working-class pragmatism of the miners blasting away in the hills. His portrait of upper-class corruption poisoning the country was banned in Vichy France almost immediately after it was released. Le Ciel Est à Vous (1944) is a family drama that serves as yet another vehicle for Renaud, who plays wife and mother Thérèse Gauthier, whose mechanic husband, Pierre (Charles Vanel), develops an obsession with airplanes—an interest that becomes contagious as Thérèse eventually becomes an aviatrix and volunteers to represent the local flying club at an intercontinental competition. These are elegant, intelligent, and dramatically impressive films from a director who deserves to be better known. Featuring informative liner notes by Michael Koresky, this is recommended. (S. Axmaker)