SUBJECTS

Communism -- Drama, France -- Politics and government, Strikes and lockouts

La vie est à nous

(La vie est à nous), (The People of France)

featuring

Jean Dasté, Jacques Brunius, Gaston Modot, Madeleine Sologne,

Thanks to the Cultural Services of the French Embassy.

La vie est à nous is a lyrical film essay, a truly collective effort by some of the finest writers, directors, and cinematographers working in France in the thirties, yet one that bears the strong imprint of Jean Renoir, who supervised the project. It was the first militant left-wing film made in France, in support of the Communist Party, and was banned by the censor and thus only screened in local cinemas to “subscribers” to Ciné-liberté, the magazine of the left-wing group of cineastes. The film is an amalgam of sketches, documentary and pseudo-documentary sequences, among them a “portrait” of the two hundred families said to rule France; activities and observations of various working people and the Party’s connection to them; and the highlight in which the Fascist Colonel de la Rocque performs an idiotic little dance to the barking sounds of Adolph Hitler, thanks to ingenious editing.

FILM DETAILS 
Screenwriter
  • Jean Renoir
  • Jacques Becker
  • Jacques Brunius
  • Pierre Unik
Cinematographer
  • Claude Renoir
  • Henri Alekan
  • Jean-Paul Alphen
  • Jean Bourgouin
Language
  • French
  • with English subtitles
Print Info
  • B&W
  • 35mm
  • 66 mins
Source
  • Courtesy Institut Français, thanks to the Cultural Services of the French Embassy
CINEFILES

CineFiles is an online database of BAMPFA's extensive collection of documentation covering world cinema, past and present.

View La vie est à nous documents  

La vie est a nous (program note), Cinematheque Ontario/a division of Toronto International Film Festival Group, 1998

La vie en rosa (article), Village Voice, J. Hoberman, 1987

La vie est a nous (program note), New York Shakespeare Festival, 1987

La vie est a nous (program note), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Rachel Gallagher, 1981

La vie est a nous (program note), 1976

Jean Renoir (program), National Film Theatre (London, England), 1975

People of France (review), Variety, 1937

The people of France (review), 1937

La vie est a nous (program note), Leo Braudy

La vie est à nous (program note), 100 Annees Lumiere

Displaying 10 of 10 publicly available documents.


View all La vie est à nous documentation on CineFiles.