The golden body

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Movie
German title The golden body
Original title La carrozza d'oro
Country of production Italy
France
original language English
Publishing year 1952
length 94 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Jean Renoir
script Jean Renoir
Jack Kirkland
Renzo Avanzo
Giulio Macchi based
on the story Le carrosse de Saint-Sacrement by Prosper Mérimée
production Francesco Alliata
music Antonio Vivaldi
camera Claude Renoir
cut Mario Serandrei
occupation

The Golden Carriage is an Italian-French fictional film from 1952 directed by Jean Renoir with Anna Magnani in the leading role.

action

The setting is 18th century South America, which was ruled by the Spanish crown.

At the head of an Italian band of comedians, the actress Camilla travels by ship to Peru one day, where the Spanish viceroy Ferdinand soon falls in love with her. In order to ensure his affection, the artist asks for solid evidence: his golden state coach, which is available to the representative of the crown as a means of transportation and representation at the same time. This magnificent vehicle was brought here from Europe on the same ship with which the Commedia dell'arte actors traveled. After some hesitation, the Viceroy gives her the golden body. Camilla, the heart of her comedy troupe, who have to perform their appearances in the South American jungle under miserable circumstances, is also the leading actress of the Colombina . In her feelings she appears to be fickle, if not calculating; she knows how to benefit a woman in great demand from her position. She also enjoys other admirers around her and, in addition to the viceroy, is also hotly courted by the hot-blooded torero Ramón.

The hot-blooded thoroughbred comedian, however, is especially fond of the Spanish officer Felipe, who turned her on during the crossing to the New World. Meanwhile, the viceroy has problems because of his generous loan to Camilla. The spiritual power in the form of the bishop of the Spanish colony reproaches the representative of the secular power for the all too profane use of the golden carriage. The car body suddenly becomes a political issue in the struggle for power and influence, love and jealousy - with Colombina alias Camilla in the middle. Finally, the Italian - torn between three highly self-confident, demanding and virile men - recognizes the procedural nature of the situation and makes a diplomatic decision: She renounces the golden car, hands it over to the bishop, so that peace between church and state is restored is and from now on dedicates herself with her love to the art that she masters best: the theater.

Production notes

The Golden Carriage was Jean Renoir's first film after he returned from India, where he shot the elegiac picture opera The Stream . It had its world premiere in Italy on December 3, 1952 and was shown in German cinemas on December 4, 1953. The first broadcast on German television took place on August 27, 1962 on ARD . The German version was ten minutes shorter than the original Italian version.

Mario Chiari was responsible for the film construction, Maria de Matteis designed the splendid costumes. For this she received the Silver Ribbon of the National Syndicate of Italian Film Journalists.

Given the predominant cast with English-speaking actors, the entire film was shot in English.

Reviews

“Renoir cleverly plays with the alternation of stage and reality, of theater and life, of appearance and reality. The real intrigues of the film constantly mix with the theatrical performances, merge or cancel each other out. And the same theme is varied again when the film confronts the world of the court with the images of the Indians, to whom the life and ceremonies of the court inevitably appear like a strange "spectacle". The style and rhythm of the production are also determined by Vivaldi's music on which the film is based. "

- Reclams film guide, by Dieter Krusche, collaboration: Jürgen Labenski. P. 251. Stuttgart 1973

“Jean Renoir has alienated Prosper Mérimée's play into the milieu of the Italian“ commedia dell'arte ”and in this brilliant production plays masterfully with the possibilities of film reality and theater. The ease of the constant change of scene, the theater in the theater, broken by a sly cinematic language, make the musically built film with its ever new ironic brokenness one of Jean Renoir's great directorial achievements. His color dramaturgy can definitely be seen as a continuation of the painting of his father Auguste . "

Marie Anderson writes on kino-zeit.de: “Jean Renoir succeeded in creating a wonderful film with filigree implementations of the finest particles of film art with“ Die goldene Karosse ”, which applies to both the content and the formal design. Jean, son of the famous painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, staged a sophisticated play of colors, which, despite its political explosiveness, represents an almost loving homage to the Commedia dell'arte, whose typical structures are also beyond the charmingly designed theater in its dramaturgy find again, which is supported in style by music by Antonio Vivaldi. The figure of the officer Felipe embodies a clear, concise criticism of the colonial system of oppression, which is only one of the political leaders that Renoir has cleverly installed and subtly interwoven with the emotional content. The end of the film in particular is simply grandiose and contains the message that the true artist's heart ultimately decides in favor of the profession, even if love, power and fame beckon. "

"Theatrical and stylized, this film is one of the greats about acting - and an amazing achievement in terms of the use of color photography."

- Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 505

“The director seemed mainly interested in the color and the backgrounds; the story is boring and the leading actress has been cast incorrectly. "

- Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 412

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The golden body in the lexicon of international filmTemplate: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used
  2. Die goldene Karosse ( Memento from June 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) on kino-zeit.de

Web links