Retirement
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Retirement |
| Original title | La fin du jour |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 1939 |
| length | 107 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Julien Duvivier |
| script |
Charles Spaak Julien Duvivier |
| production |
Robert Vernay Aris Nissotti for Régina films |
| music | Maurice Jaubert |
| camera |
Christian Matras Armand Thirard Robert Juillard Alex Joffre |
| cut | Marthe Poncin |
| occupation | |
| |
Retirement (original title: La Fin du jour ) is a French feature film drama from 1939 by Julien Duvivier .
action
Raphaël Saint Clair was once a celebrated actor, matinee idol, and first-rate heartthrob. But his good days are long gone; he has become impoverished and old, his followers have long forgotten the former beau. Now Saint Clair is embarking on the last path of his life: he finally retires in a home for elderly artists. There he meets two colleagues whose vitae have gone completely different paths: there is the talented Marny, who is deeply bitter about the fact that all his talent has never brought him fame and honor, let alone broad recognition, and on the on the other side the beefy convertible, type of mood cannon, who had to make do with the second cast all his life.
One day the old people's home gets into serious financial difficulties and should therefore be closed. With the public attention that this creates, things get moving: well-known acting colleagues declare that they are ready to appear at a charity event in the home. Since one of the younger colleagues is absent, Marny should take over his job. Cabrissade, who finally wants to show what he can do, begs Marny to let him go first. But he is not ready to do so, as this task finally offers the opportunity to be at least a little in the public spotlight. And so it comes to a scuffle. In anger, Cabrissade knocks Marny down and steps onto the stage himself.
But the excitement of being able to play in front of an audience again is too much for him. He suffers a heart attack and dies on stage. Things are not going well with Saint Clair either. For the last time he lived up to his reputation as the eternal Don Juan and turned the head of the café clerk Jeannette. But what is just a big game for him here, as always, has tragic proportions for the young girl, as she has seriously fallen in love with the cynic. It soon becomes clear that Saint Clair is mentally confused. He is picked up and taken to a mental hospital. The eternal loser Marny remains, but this time he was the last remaining winner to be. He takes care of the girl “used” by Saint Claire and finally makes his big entrance at the grave of Cabrissade when he gives the funeral oration there.
Production notes
Lebensabend was written at the end of 1938 and had its world premiere on March 24, 1939. In the same year the film was also shown in Denmark and the United States. In Germany, Lebensabend was only released in 1950.
The film structures were designed by Jacques Krauss .
The film can be assigned to poetic realism .
Reviews
Reclam's film guide said at the end of his life : “Duvivier, who has always been an 'actor-director', has provided a bitter, sometimes cruel analysis here. While the plot is at times pathetic, occasionally melodramatic, the description of the characters and the atmosphere is convincing, the details, the small reactions and gestures, which nevertheless give the whole thing credibility. "
The Lexicon of International Films judged: “Certainly a great psychological study by Duvivier, in which, however, Louis Jouvet and Michel Simon must surpass each other in bitterness. A very sad film. "
Web links
- Retirement in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Poetic Realism , accessed December 31, 2013.
- ↑ Reclams Filmführer , by Dieter Krusche, collaboration: Jürgen Labenski. P. 309. Stuttgart 1973.
- ↑ Klaus Brüne (Red.): Lexikon des Internationale Films , Volume 5, S. 2190. Reinbek near Hamburg 1987.