Jean Epstein:"His sister Marie, was during his life a most faithful collaborator, the author of many scenarios, and in later life one of the three muses of Henri Langlois at the Cinémathèque Française. Together with Benoit-Lévy she directed La Maternelle." (wikipedia) There are three comments ,which is very rare for a French movie of the early thirties ,none of which comes from France!It speaks volumes about the disdain of the Froggies for the oldies but Goldies .For "La Maternelle" is a gem ,something unique -I can't see any equivalent in the French cinema before WW2.Although the movie has a running time of 100min ,the copy circulating in France -which is actually an American one with English subtitles -barely exceeds 80 min.It's obvious the parts which are missing are to be found at the beginning: the only scene concerning Rose's earlier life ,when she was part of the elite ,chic people : only a short sequence of a ball and that's it;we learn nothing from the death of her father and from her unfaithful fiancé who walked out on her.All Rose says is "I've got to earn my living".
Rose wants to work with children and she can't wait for a teacher job;so she becomes a simple maid in an "Ecole Maternelle"(there's no English word for it,certainly not "kindergarten" ).When they discover she 's got her "Brevet Supérieur" -for people reading the subtitles ,it's not a college degree ,but for the thirties it's a diploma few girls possessed-,it will cause a little scandal :"you are educated!we can't keep you as a maid!you've gotta get away and find another job,in line with your culture! Rose's love and affection for the children is absolutely extraordinary .Madeleine Renaud gives a sensational restrained performance ,she never overplays and we are at school with her.A school which ,in the thirties does not look like the modern Ecole Maternelle of the twenty-first century with their computers .One thing ,however ,has not changed .Some children are miserable,and the only love they can get sometimes comes from their teachers ,particularly when they are very young.The principal (Alice Tissot) is interested only in her career and the crude "first" maid (Mady Berry)will find the way to the pupils' heart at the end of the movie.
The head teacher has something magical in her office :when you sit down on a chair ,a music box tune is heard ,which brings joy inside the brats ' tears .And tears fall down and go by in this school.There's "Fondant" a boy who does not know how to smile ;Rose will bring back a smile on his lips a few days before he passes away (it's not a rosy world which the two directors depict).The scene is one of these before which you can't hold back your tears .There's Marie a little girl "whose mother is always away,because of her job" says the concierge in her pertinent lines:mum is playing around ,dating men ,sometimes before her daughter's eyes .A semi whore ,she leaves her child with the concierge .
The children are wonderfully filmed and the movie is full of memorable scenes ,the sequence of the rabbit coming to mind when the movie is talked about ,which is rare in its country.
It's populism ,this populism which will lead (with Carné and Duvivier)the French Cinema on Realisme Poétique territory ,it goes without saying that "La Maternelle" was ahead of its time ,the French cinema of that era (with notable exceptions such as Jacques Feyder, Jean Renoir , Jean Vigo and Julien Duvivier) essentially consisting of melodramas and comedies.
Like this? try these......
"Poil De Carotte" (1925 and 1932) Julien Duvivier.
"L'Ecole Buisonnière" Jean -Paul Le Chanois (1949)
"Cuore" Luigi Comencini (1984)
"Cà Commence Aujourd'hui" Bertrand Tavernier,(1999)
This is a movie which is desperately in need of restoration,particularly in those trouble times when our Ecole Maternelle is in jeopardy,on account of deplorable policies !Let's salute our teachers of long ago's work and may we make themselves proud wherever they are!
