You can say that Marcel PagnolHe is defined by his face films, not more distinctive than Raimu films, a legend in the music hall that turned into the big screen star Orson Wales called “the greatest actor in the world.” As happens, “Belville twins” manager Silvan ChomateFilm films are also characterized by faces, which are drawn by French animation by hand in a love but heavy operation that reflects the previous century as much as the beloved Bagnol (Jean de Florite “and” Monon from the Spring “) and the plays (” Marius “,” Vanie “and” César “, all of which were filmed on the screen).
What a beautiful marriage to the artist and the author.Wonderful life“It should be, right? This is only partially true, unfortunately. Extracting from a group of professional preserved PAGNOL articles,” Countance “, Choint honors the man’s achievements-it may be assumed that the dry textbook or an educational graphic novel-but it fails to transfer the reason they do not have a fabricated level of opening with the Ghanol. Festival Festival FestivalThe film includes the same vital optical style as the previous Chometal work, which is largely its best quality (the charming Stefano Bollani degree is another of its strengths).
Less successful is the text program for the film and audio actors who read it in both French and English. The way Choint works, the film’s character appears across the detailed faces and expressions incredibly, not dialogue or delivery. If the goal is to ignite interest in the life of Bagnol and his work-to send fans rushing to the standard channel or a book store to clean it with brush-it risks the opposite effect, as Bagnol was presenting such a funny man who jumped from stage to screen specifically at the moment when the conversation takes off.
But Chutet assumes that you already know the reason for the importance of this (pioneer in the seventh art, Pagnol built his own studio and insisted that his characters speak in an authentic southern tone). “A wonderful life”, with the participation of the grandson of Bagnol Nicholas, wrote a group of stories from the early years of the legendary creator in Marseille until the death of his daughter at an unreasonable early age, without proving what a man is fighting – or aims towards him.
As Pagnol himself said, “This is the life of a man. Moments of joy, which was classified with unforgettable sadness. There is no need to tell children about this.” Lift the unparalleled Chutet skill in transferring layers of comedy and depression that the photographic camera cannot pick up, and it will take more task for the audiences in his theatrical career – the place where the movie begins, stirring on the Paris (Fabien “stage). After a few scenes, Pagnol is honored by an editor from ELLE magazine, who promises to publish his notes … if he can only write them.
In the face of the empty page, it seems that Pagnol is facing a problem in remembering his youth, until a boy named “Marcel” appears in his office. The French title of the film, “Marcel and Monsignor Bagnol”, defines a comic in this way as these two people as separate characters. It is a strange device, using the younger self for the author to install tales with meaningful of his heart’s comfort, especially since the boy comes and goes to will from meaningful moments in the past of Bagnol.
Given that other characters can see him, Young Marcel is supposed to be more than just a drop of SCRIBBLER. For the masses, it is a kind of pest, creates a racket and distracts him from a relatively clear life story. The boy’s presence suggests an attempt by Chomet to attract a younger audience, although it is difficult to imagine to find either Marcel or Monsieur Pagnol everything that makes fun.
However, we are far from “The Illuseist”, honoring Chomet for another French legend, Jacques Tati. It seems that a “wonderful life” is more committed to education than entertainment, although the selection of details can be puzzled at times. An excerpt from a play was extracted, as two male actors raised while old women commented on each other’s bosom, a wrong kind of laughter from school children at the Cannes Festival – so children may not be the ideal audience. One of the actors in this scene is the very important Raimu, which helps Pagnol in his profession at all with a revolutionary decision.
Instead of writing the plays in the “appropriate” French language – as the base was in the respected Parisian theaters – Pagnol decided to direct the colored dialects of the original Marseille. In the French version of the film, the adults of Bagnol are expressed by the actor in the request of Laurent Lift with any trace of the regional accent, while it seems that the young Marcel is as though he came from the south. But how do you translate exactly these differences of English -speaking audience?
When Paramount Bob Kane was charged with producing films in French languages and other languages, EXEC approached Bagnol about adapting his plays on the screen – an idea that attracted the theatrical writer, who expected the popularity of cinema and embraced the emerging method of this means emerging with a different comedy and drama (by presenting the audience’s difference to that wonderful interface for example).
Pagnol insisted on shooting the “Marius” original dialects. The French ears should not only appreciate the musical quality of the sounds like Raimu, but the impossible expressions of the transfer to Pagnol are falling throughout his dialogue (although it is wrong to cast a laffitte in the leadership role). Dub in English, although it is completely charming in itself, cannot do justice to this special dimension of Pagnol.
This leaves the fans to follow the story story of the Bagnol thickness and its successes: the fortunate tonight that all his money was betting on during the performance of his play, which is a meeting on the field where he was transferred shortly on the “Marcel” supplement, the goats that he rented on the screen … and then relied on the turmoil. These fun facts do not raise laughter in the context, but they may entertain when the audience repeats what they learned to others on the road.
What the film lacks is a clear feeling of conflict – the type of drama that distinguishes its topic. Wonderful as Pagnol’s achievements may be, it is unfortunate that the novel that is going through decades is one of the greatest narrators of stories in France has not made a better story for itself.
