French Cancan (1956)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Powerful

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Portrait of a time. portrait of a legend. seductive for the genius of Jean Renoir. and for the inspired performances. and, sure, for the nostalgia of the viewer. an admirable Jean Gabin and a great embroidery of love stories, show world, rivalries and triumph. optimistic, romantic. and refreshing. and that does to it a special status. like refuge, splendid show, fairy tale and confession of a lost age.

Only being aware of Jacques Demy's work,I started looking round for other French Musicals. Finding his work in black and white to be magnificent, I was absolutely thrilled to discover a Musical by Jean Renoir (in colour!) which in excitement, led to me joining the Can- Can.The plot:Struggling to keep his nightclub going, (with his mistress Lola's belly dancing being the only one bringing the crowds in) Henri Danglard looks for new acts.Visiting a club in another town, Danglard eyes a suggestive dance called the Can-Can. Deciding to bring the dance to the club, Danglard crosses paths with star in waiting Nini, and decides to make her the star attraction. Battling with money issues,the bruised ego of Lola and the protected boyfriend of Nini, Danglard remains determined to keep the mill spinning and re-design his club,which shall be named the Moulin Rouge.View on the film:Retaining a touch of class even when showing suggestive dances, co- writer/(with André-Paul Antoine) director Jean Renoir & cinematographer Michel Kelber make their Moulin Rouge an immaculate creations, covered in lavish, chocolate wrapper colours, (and Georges Van Parys's thrilling score)with Renoir separating the stage acts into segments,and making each of them look like a sweet delight.Filling the club with a drizzle of frilly dresses, Renoir gives each dance sequence a glittering stylisation of the camera elegantly capturing each Musical number/dance move, and Renoir takes the viewer right to the back of the venue, so that they can become fully immense in the outpouring of chaos in the club.Keeping the fact that this is the Moulin Rouge secret for the first half, the screenplay by Renoir and Antoine whip up a fluffy Musical Melodrama,with the writers giving Danglard sharp comedic dialogue that shines even when Danglard is close to losing it all. Turning the behind the scenes windmill of the Moulin Rouge, the writers unveil a rich Melodrama with a firm comedic line dance, as the arrival of Nini leads to swift exchanges between Lola and Danglard, who finds his investors uneasy over the opening, when Nini's boyfriend pulls her away from the stage,and leaves a friction between her and Danglard.Retaining her "Queen of Mexican cinema" glamour, María Félix gives a wonderful performance as Lola,with Félix finely balancing Lola's abrupt manner to Nini with a limelight-grabbing on stage charisma. Gingerly stepping on stage, Françoise Arnoul gives an excellent performance as Nini,whose clear talents Arnoul keeps just behind the lights of Nini's nervousness and the Melodrama romance that turns Nini away from the stage. Fighting to keep the lights on,Jean Gabin gives an excellent performance as Danglard,with Gabin hitting Danglard's charm offensive with bombastic high notes ,which are threaded by a sensitivity over making sure everyone is dancing to the same tune,as Nini kicks off the French Can-Can.

French Cancan is introduced as a "musical comedy" and lives up to the billing in some ways. That is to say that dance gets as much limelight as music, in fact given the final sequence it is dance which would best describe the film. Strange that Renoir wouldn't mark it out as such given his comments about the universality of dance after the production of The River and given the title of the film itself. The depth of field is again appropriated to layer the staging much like in theater. Mobile framing emulates the human spectator to events sooner than constructing space unobtrusively. The pan across the mob fight unravels before the viewer like a comic strip or emaki scroll. There is specular themes like in Golden Coach where Gabin's character asserts "artists are slaves". The film remains lighthearted and humorous and it is no surprise that of his most recent films, Cancan did the best at the box office (Arnoul is delicious in her role). Mise-en-scene is designed with expectations of a painterly aesthetic. A color is lavish to the point of tackiness. Gabin's character later states "we are at the service of the public" and implies that this is all that matters. Sarris comments that Gabin's character as impresario serves as an alter ego for Renoir and reminds us that it would be an "oversimplification to describe him as a humanist." I cannot disagree with Mr. Sarris on those points but as we all know, Renoir's oeuvre plunges even deeper into reflection, representation and meaning.

This was a pleasant musical about the creation of the Moulin Rouge dance hall. In many ways, this reminds me of the Hollywood musicals of the 40s and 50s, in that it has many clichés leading up to the inevitable conclusion ("will the show STILL go on?"). While of course none of this is new, it was enjoyable and well made. The musical numbers at the end are frenetic and beautiful to watch. In many ways it reminds me of a sexier version of THE GREAT ZIEGFELD. In real life, Ziegfeld was quite the player but this was sanitized in the American film. But, in FRENCH CANCAN, the characters have fully functioning libidos--but nothing is really shown, so the movie is okay for kids.Nothing new but well done nevertheless.