Director: Christophe Barratier
Writers: Christophe Barratier,
Pierre Philippe, Julien Rappeneau
Cinematographer: Tom Stern
Starring: Gérard Jugnot,
Nora Arnezeder, Clovis Cornillac, Kad Merad
Studio/Run time: Sony Pictures
Classics, 120 mins.
As entertaining as it is sappy
With 2004’s well received The
Chorus, Christophe Barratier established himself as a director
sensitive to the impact of music upon the soul of a child. In Paris
36 he has extended that sensitivity to the soul of a 1936
Parisian community. The result is a gladsome success. Gérard
Jugnot, who played the music teacher in The Chorus, teams with
Barratier again—this time as the soft-hearted Pigoil, life-serving
stage manager of Chansonia music hall in the Faubourg suburb of
Paris. Jugnot’s world comes crashing down when his wife leaves him,
taking his only son just as the theater closes its doors. If that’s
not enough, fascist influences of Hitler and Mussolini are clashing
with the country’s financially strapped citizens. But the numerous
sub-plots successfully avoid confusion as Pigoil re-opens the theater
with the help of his friends.
Providing some wonderfully spirited
songs, the characters of Paris 36 gleefully reverberate
throughout the film. But none are as memorable as Douce, played well
beyond experience by 19-year-old Nora Arnezeder. Passing an audition
because of her beauty, Douce becomes the star of the theater’s
re-opening upon discovery of her amazing voice. Arnezeder mirrors her
character as an unknown with stunning talent who also had to audition
for this role, bringing what should propel her into a successful
future.
There are moments when it feels that
Barratier is trying to feed us too much—the history, the setting,
the performances, the conflicts. And it may be a little overly
sentimental and sappy. However, after one particular show-stopping
musical number soars into a Busby Berkeley dreamlike fantasy, the
film is no doubt entertaining.