Julien Duviver's 1939 masterpiece Pepe Le Moko is the perfect example of the French genre Poetic Realism, the idea behind which is to "reflect the gloomy morale of pre-war years" (Nowell-Smith 345) in France. It is the story of an exhiled gangster living in the Casbah of Algiers, and follows his rapid loss of all things worth living for. First Pepe loses the person he is closest to, a young man he regards both as a brother and a son. Shortly thereafter, it is revealed through his conversation with his newest love interest that Pepe has lost all the beauty that was his home in Paris. As he recalls all of the beautiful places he would visit, it is clear that the nostalgia is bittersweet from the knowledge that he can no longer return. In the end, however, Pepe is forced over the edge when he loses his latest love interest, a woman married to an older man and only visiting the Casbah on vacation. Once Pepe crosses into Paris after her, the audience is briefly hopeful that Pepe will be united with his lover for a happy ending, but reality quickly sets in when Pepe is arrested and forced to watch his love sail away with no knowledge of his brave endeavor.
Poetic Realism in France was the precursor to Film Noir in the United States, and therefore provided many of the building blocks for the genre. Poetic Realism contained "pessimistic narratives and nighttime settings, and a dark, contrasted visual style" (Nowell-Smith 345). Pepe Le Moko was a prime example for most of these conventions. It's plot follows the ideology that there is no happy ending, no matter how valiant the effort. As the main character's life snowballs out of controll, the audience slowly realizes he has no chance to save stop any of the tradgedies, because it is the cruel outside world that controls his fate.
The visual style of the film is much more real than many films being made at the time. There is one scene in particular that stands out as vividly real, it occurs as a voice describes the Casbah, when b-roll of the city that closely resembles that of documentary is played. The audience feels as if these shots are not staged, but instead are common in the everyday routine of the Casbah, which forces the story into a much more gritty and honest form.
Many conventions that would later be compiled for what is now known as the Film Noir movement in the United States are also present in Pepe Le Moko. The main character, Pepe, is the typical anti-hero persona portrayed in the dark American genre, known the pre-war france as simply the male-hero starring opposite "mythical women" (Nowell-Smith 345). Throughout the course of the film, Pepe proves to be his own worst enemy, and eventually becomes the cause of his own death. It is through his lusting for a rich and unobtainable woman that he is careless and drawn into the Paris, where he is arrested and forced to watch as his love interest symbolically sails away without even noticing him. In American cinema, this form of self-destructive behavior became common place, and the female roles were embellished into the Femme Fatales, the ultimate accessory for a self-destructive male anti-hero.
The city setting, and sharp black and white contrast are another convention shared by both Poetic Realism and Film Noir. Both genre's use the cities as a sort of boundary for their characters, trapping them in a world where they are forced to face evil and temptation. The black and white acts as more than just a technological limit, it becomes a statement on the harsh reality that the characters live in, with deep shadows and contrasting images.
Instead of seeking the comedic, escapist route, Pepe Le Moko is essentially an expression of anxiety felt in pre-war France that would later become part of the mold followed by American Film Noir attempting to do the same thing for it's audience in the next decade. Deviver was able to take a tragic story and tell it in a beautiful way, which is often times the best and most powerful choice for telling such a story.
Poetic Realism in France was the precursor to Film Noir in the United States, and therefore provided many of the building blocks for the genre. Poetic Realism contained "pessimistic narratives and nighttime settings, and a dark, contrasted visual style" (Nowell-Smith 345). Pepe Le Moko was a prime example for most of these conventions. It's plot follows the ideology that there is no happy ending, no matter how valiant the effort. As the main character's life snowballs out of controll, the audience slowly realizes he has no chance to save stop any of the tradgedies, because it is the cruel outside world that controls his fate.
The visual style of the film is much more real than many films being made at the time. There is one scene in particular that stands out as vividly real, it occurs as a voice describes the Casbah, when b-roll of the city that closely resembles that of documentary is played. The audience feels as if these shots are not staged, but instead are common in the everyday routine of the Casbah, which forces the story into a much more gritty and honest form.
Many conventions that would later be compiled for what is now known as the Film Noir movement in the United States are also present in Pepe Le Moko. The main character, Pepe, is the typical anti-hero persona portrayed in the dark American genre, known the pre-war france as simply the male-hero starring opposite "mythical women" (Nowell-Smith 345). Throughout the course of the film, Pepe proves to be his own worst enemy, and eventually becomes the cause of his own death. It is through his lusting for a rich and unobtainable woman that he is careless and drawn into the Paris, where he is arrested and forced to watch as his love interest symbolically sails away without even noticing him. In American cinema, this form of self-destructive behavior became common place, and the female roles were embellished into the Femme Fatales, the ultimate accessory for a self-destructive male anti-hero.
The city setting, and sharp black and white contrast are another convention shared by both Poetic Realism and Film Noir. Both genre's use the cities as a sort of boundary for their characters, trapping them in a world where they are forced to face evil and temptation. The black and white acts as more than just a technological limit, it becomes a statement on the harsh reality that the characters live in, with deep shadows and contrasting images.
Instead of seeking the comedic, escapist route, Pepe Le Moko is essentially an expression of anxiety felt in pre-war France that would later become part of the mold followed by American Film Noir attempting to do the same thing for it's audience in the next decade. Deviver was able to take a tragic story and tell it in a beautiful way, which is often times the best and most powerful choice for telling such a story.
In the reading, I found it interesting that Geoffrey Nowell-Smith chose to describe the women of poetic realism as "mythical", so I decided to look up the world and try to figure why he chose to use it. According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Editi0n, "Mythical" means:
1. Of or existing in myth: the mythical unicorn.
2. Imaginary; fictitious.
3. Often mythic Of, relating to, or having the nature of a myth: a novel of profound, almost mythic consequence.
When thinking about the film Pepe Le Moko, the female role that seems to fit the term best is that of Pepe new found love interest. She comes to the Casbah with lots Jewels and maintains a mysterious quality by speaking very little, which allows Pepe to create her personality in his head and mold it to his own desires. Since there are few facts for Pepe to base his assumptions on, the persona he creates for the woman in his head is very imagined and ficticious.
Knowing that Poetic Realism was a strong influence for Film Noir, I thought about the women of that genre (more commonly refered to as Femme Fatale), and realized that they are very similar. Those women often times say very little, leaving small clues for the anti-hero to follow as he slowly falls in love with the personality he puts together in his head.
Lydia, I think you did an excellent job writing about the film as well as its historical context. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post and hearing your thoughts on the film and the connections to American "film noir".
ReplyDeleteI especially liked this sentence: "The black and white acts as more than just a technological limit, it becomes a statement on the harsh reality that the characters live in, with deep shadows and contrasting images."