Jean delannoy

Jean Delannoy had celebrated his centenary on January 12. He was born in 1908 in Noisy-le-Sec, in the Parisian Île-de-France. After graduating in philosophy from the University of the Sorbonne, he held various jobs, from home salesman to journalist, including decorator and supporting actor in films such as  La grande passion (1928) and  Casanova  (1934). From here he would go on to work in the French division of Paramount as an editor, on films such as  The King of the Champs-Élysées  (1934) starring a declining Buster Keaton . Delannoy pointed out the ways of a filmmaker, since that same year he made his directorial debut with  Paris-Deaville. Four years later he married Juliette Geneste, with whom he had a daughter, Claire.

In 1939 he delivered  Macao, the hell of the game  (1939), with Erich Von Stroheim , and in 1942  Pontcarral, Colonel of the Empire , a bold film in those times, as they secretly called for resistance against the Nazi occupation. And in 1943, from his collaboration with Jean Cocteau ,  The Eternal Return was born , based on the legendary relationship between Tristan and Isolde. Another prestigious collaboration was with Jean-Paul Sartre in  Les jeux son faits  (1947). But without a doubt his most celebrated film is  The Pastoral Symphony (1946), adaptation of the novel by André Gide, and winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Delannoy well captured the spirit of the original work, which speaks of human hypocrisy and self-deception, by painting a Protestant pastor attracted to a beautiful blind young woman. The filmmaker always showed interest in religious themes, since in 1950 he made  God Needs Men , based on the novel by Henri Queffelec, a film that won awards at the Venice and Berlin festivals. Later he would dedicate two films to the Marian apparitions in Lourdes,  Bernadette  (1988) and  La pasión de Bernadette  (1989), plus his last work, also with the presence of the Virgin,  Mary of Nazareth. (nineteen ninety five). She always had a predilection for literary themes, since hers is a version of Victor Hugo ‘s work about the hunchback of Notre Dame,  Our Lady of Paris  (1956), with Anthony Quinn and Gina Lollobrigida . As can be seen, the Virgin was also present in said title. That same year she also made the lavish  Marie Antoinette, Queen of France . In addition, he transferred to the screen the adventures of Maigret, the character created by Georges Simenon , in  Commissioner Maigret  (1958) and  Maigret in the case of the countess  (1959); in both titles Jean Gabin embodied the commissioner.

Delannoy had the misfortune to exemplify what François Truffaut criticized in his famous Cahiers du Cinéma article “Une certain trend du cinéma français”, that is, “a certain trend in French cinema”. There he put himself in solfa what was seen as academicism and excessive dependence on literary texts, while advocating for auteur cinema, where such a position corresponded to the director of the film. André Bazin, editor of the mythical publication, hesitated for a long time before sending the controversial article to print, which seemed to draw a clear line between the tradition of French cinema and modernity. Delannoy was hurt by the article and wrote a letter stating that it was “very low, I have never found anything like it in my 20 years in the profession.” More vitriolic with him was Jean-Luc Godard, who, imagining Delannoy with a briefcase going to the studio, said that he could just as well be entering the headquarters of an insurance company. The truth is that the director was passionately interested in a subject, and took the necessary distance to approach it in the best possible way. What critics like Truffaut interpreted as sticking to the letter, instead of adapting with the desirable freedom.