The Curtain Rises

The Curtain Rises (1938) - (Oriignal french title : « Entrée des artistes »)

(Please note that some of the following content reveals part of the film's plot)

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THE FILM'S ENTRANCE BY THE ARTISTS*)

And who better than Louis Jouvet to play the role of "Lambertin", a drama teacher? A renowned actor of stage and screen, Jouvet possesses a natural authority and leaves no doubt that he knows what he's talking about, although his character is far from sympathetic. The harshness of his teaching is merely an antechamber to prepare, if not select, for the difficulty of the future life of actors, of which only a small number will be able to lay claim. The rest will have to find another profession.

Jouvet is surrounded by a chorus of very talented young actors, all now deceased. Janine Darcey is astounding in the role of "Isabelle", fragile and big-hearted, in perfect contrast to "Cécilia" played by Odette Joyeux, who looks like a shrew. Claude Dauphin may be a little too old to be entirely convincing as the student actor, but his charisma and boyish charms make him an obvious choice for the role of "François", the naive lover. Bernard Blier, Noël Roquevert, Roger Blin and Julien Carette are other familiar faces to keep an eye on.

Marcel Dalio almost steals the final act in the role of an examining magistrate. During the Occupation, the film was released a second time, the first on October 06, 1938, with all the scenes featuring Marcel Dalio, a Jewish actor whose photos had been used for German propaganda posters with the caption: "Le Juif typique" ("The typical Jew"), turned upside down. He was replaced by Fred Pasquali and, strangely enough, Marcel Dalio's original voice was retained in the second version. It wasn't until July 1944, when the film was released for the third time, that the original version with Dalio's voice was restored.

The film revolves around Isabelle (Janine Darcey), a 17-year-old budding drama student, who begins to make a living because she is admitted as a first-year student to the Conservatoire, France's most renowned drama school. Isabelle's talents are quickly noticed by her drama teacher, Professor Lambertin (Louis Jouvet), who approaches her at the end of a class. He has received a letter from her uncle, urging Isabelle to stop her theatrical antics and take up ironing in the family laundry. Isabelle's aunt and uncle are her adoptive guardians. They believe that acting is not a serious business, and that it produces starving and even suicidal people. Lambertin, also 17, was rejected by his father, who refused to admit that his son was being promoted to a bright future as an actor in love. And in this scene, Henri Jeanson has Louis Jouvet say to his pupil, Isabelle (Janine Darcey): "I was seventeen, but I'm not anymore, because you are, and seventeen is not for everyone at the same time! So, to go back in time and confront her father through Isabelle's uncle, Lambertin goes to the store to talk to the guardians and convinces them otherwise, assuring them that the girl has the makings of a good actress.

Back at school, Isabelle experiences her first love when she falls for an older student, François (Claude Dauphin). François has a reputation for being a ladies' man, and his former girlfriend, Cécilia (Odette Joyeux), is far from satisfied when she learns that he has found another lover. Overcome by jealousy, she intends to use her acting skills to inflict cruel and deadly revenge on her ex-lover. Expect a rather sinister outcome.

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ABOUT

The first half of the film functions almost like a documentary, covering both the grueling entrance exam and the meticulous re-enactments of the acting classes. An entrance exam in which aspiring actors have to perform in front of a tough-to-please jury, like Christians entering the lion's den. This part of the film appears to be the most interesting. What follows is a fairly conventional melodrama of tumultuous young love affairs. Not only does this film offer sound advice to any budding actor - always stick to the script, always find the truth in the character being played - but it's also so authentically acted and staged that we could easily mistake it for a candid documentary.

The film's structure may be surprisingly short, but it's important because it's the pinnacle of the film's mise en abyme. This work is a reflection on spectacle, on what should or shouldn't be shown (the love chamber scene). On what society pays lip service to: the practice of dramatic art. What it rejects: gigolos who do no harm to anyone, but who are disturbing because they are considered out of the ordinary. But also what impresses her: the merits of institutions such as the Legion of Honor, offering portable respectability.) What manipulates her: Jouvet's line about theater critics. And above all, the basis of relationships between individuals, the words we say to others "while acting" in front of them, like an actor on stage, which are nothing but words, consumable and perishable. All is show, all is appearance. What lucidity! The happy ending is skewed: Claude Dauphin and Janine Darcey will love each other... but for how long? The film draws its strength from its extraordinary screenplay and Henri Jeanson's dialogues, but also from its cast, dominated by an imperial Louis Jouvet, and with a pleiad of actors. Actors who knew how to act, and not the actors who, since the advent of the "Nouvelle Vague", which Michel Audiard defined as follows: "Not so new, but very vague", only know how to do things like move an arm or a leg, reciting dialogues that are no longer words of the mind, just sounds without any weight, flavor or content.

Filming took place between July 1 and August 5, 1938, mainly at the Epinay studio (Seine Saint-Denis, 93), where the staircase, hall and classroom were reconstructed. The exterior of the Château de Champlâtreux was also used. Louis Jouvet returned some twenty years later to Luzarches (Val-d'Oise, 60), where he worked as a pharmaceutical assistant in the "Horbette" pharmacy on Place de la Mairie, a business later taken over by a pork butcher.

"The Curtain Rises" is one of Marc Allégret's most personal films, not least because it deals with a subject close to his heart. Marc Allégret had a legendary gift for spotting and nurturing talent, and French cinema owes him a debt of gratitude. Michèle Morgan, Gérard Philipe, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Louis Jourdan are just some of the great actors Marc Allégret brought out of obscurity and onto the road to stardom. Cleverly dialogued by Henri Jeanson, scripted by André Cayatte and Marc Allégret, "The Curtain Rises" is not only one of Allégret's most inspired and humane films, it's also one of cinema's most insightful tributes to the craft of acting, a classic in the truest sense of the word.

During 1940, in war-torn Europe, Louis Jouvet continued to (really) make his Conservatoire class a protected space, where he passed on his passion for theater to young apprentice actors. In these classes, given until his departure for South America in 1941, Jouvet developed a fascinating practical approach to acting.

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DIALOGUES

A few sentences from dialogues Henri Jeanson had Louis Jouvet say

• "I'll let you have stage fright when you're talented. Be unconscious. Stage fright is a manifestation of critical thinking, and therefore of intelligence. Therefore, you are incapable of stage fright."
• "Look at her: the eye is stupid but sharp. There's a great gleam of unintelligence in her eyes, the mouth is quite witty, the body quite pleasant... Young premiere!"
• "Put art in your life and life in your art."
• "You talk very well about what you know very little about. You'd make an excellent theater critic!"

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A STORY

Admission to the Conservatoire was tough: many applicants, few places offered, few accepted. But the first year and its closing exam were even tougher. Some students were turned away for lacking the artistic and human qualities to qualify for the profession.

One young woman was dismissed by Louis Jouvet at the end of her first year as a student. She claimed to play courtesan roles, and although Jouvet didn't see her as capable, her personal experience showed that she was.

Louis Jouvet, Master of the Conservatory and Officer of the Legion of Honor, was invited to a soirée for the "bon-Paris", the "tout-Paris" (the "good" high society of Paris). Held in a wealthy, spacious hôtel particulier, the hosts, who were also masters of the premises, welcomed their guests at the entrance to a salon, as was customary. (Reminiscent of the lines of guests who distribute heartfelt condolences to the bereaved at the end of a ceremony in which a deceased relative is laid to rest).

Jouvet waited his turn but recognized, thanks to his tall stature which enabled him to see over the heads of others, that the lady of the house was none other than the young woman he had expelled from the Conservatoire. If she hadn't been able to express her talent on the stage, she'd found other places to exercise her role as courtesan and make a grand marriage with a man who could also hold the rank of father, or even grandfather. The young lady of the house was busy handing out made-to-measure smiles to the guests passing her by, but she never saw Jouvet approach, and when she did, she mechanically withdrew her hand and pursed her lips. A gesture to which Jouvet retorted: "You can shake my hand, talent isn't contagious!"