Grand Illusion

Released Sep 12, 1937

1h 57m

Drama

War

List

97%

Tomatometer

71 Reviews

92%

Audience Score

10,000+ Ratings

A group of French soldiers, including the patrician Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay) and the working-class Lieutenant Maréchal (Jean Gabin), grapple with their own class differences after being captured and held in a World War I German prison camp. When the men are transferred to a high-security fortress, they must concoct a plan to escape beneath the watchful eye of aristocratic German officer von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim), who has formed an unexpected bond with de Boeldieu.

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Critics Consensus

Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion is a masterful anti-war statement, bringing humane insight and an undercurrent of ironic humor to an unusual relationship between captor and captive.

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Otis Ferguson

The New Republic

A little more art (always as opposed to artifice or the arty) could have heightened the beauty and truth of this film, which already has as much as we’ve seen anywhere this year.

Dec 26, 2023

Full Review

Kevin Maher

Times (UK)

It's a smart choice and a peerless film that makes sweeping rhetorical statements about the futility of war while maintaining a laser-sharp focus on an ensemble of meticulously drawn characters.

Rated: 5/5

Jan 30, 2021

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Mick LaSalle

San Francisco Chronicle

The greatest World War I movie ever made (and there were lots of good ones)...

Nov 3, 2018

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Allene Talmey

Vogue

Gentle, poetic, but not soft, this drama of the War has a brooding kindness and a slow power.

Feb 3, 2024

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

Pregnant with social, humanist, and auteurist truths, Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion contains equal measures of humanism and realism.

Rated: 4/4

Mar 21, 2022

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Ernesto Diezmartinez

Cine Vértigo

La grande illusion is a complex parquet of discourses that collide and complement each other. A masterpiece.

Rated: 4/4

Sep 4, 2021

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Eli B

Grand Illusion explores the idea of social class and the bonds that are formed between people who are on opposite sides of a conflict. Through the interactions between the French and German soldiers, the movie highlights the common humanity that exists between people, regardless of nationality. Full review: https://cinephilecorner.com/reviews/grand-illusion-movie-1937/

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/21/24

Full Review

harwee h

Renoir at his peak. A classic of classic. Minor shortcomings keep it from being perfect.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

12/22/23

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Matthew B

La Grande Illusion is a war movie that is largely unknown to the general public, and yet adored by serious film critics. Perhaps this is because the average audience member looks for punctuation in a film, a greater emphasis on important point or action scenes. Jean Renoir offers none of this. The camera glides across the room, and sometimes outside without any sharp jolts. To aid this process, Renoir used movable sets so that he did not need to edit scenes that move from conversations occurring inside rooms to events taking place outside in the camp yard, establishing a unity between the many people in the camp. War movies, even when they have an anti-war message, often serve to glorify the soldiers. We are caught up in the excitement of the fighting, and honour the courage and heroism on display. Not so Renoir. The action takes place almost exclusively around prison camps until the last act of the film. There are no scenes of aerial combat or planes being shot down. This was due to budget constraints, but fits in well with Renoir's pacifist viewpoint. However Renoir is not playing down the men's heroism in order to undermine the courage and tenacity shown by the soldiers. His portrayal of the French and German fighters is respectful. Ever the humanist, Renoir shows small acts of kindness and self-sacrifice. If some scenes recall the clichés of prison camp movies, it is because Renoir essentially invented or popularised those clichés – prisoners digging tunnels and disposing of the dirt in the yard (as in The Great Escape), the men attending a revue for entertainment, officers singing together, the French troops leading a defiant chorus of La Marseillaise (an idea used in Casablanca), and the male bonding and comradeship of the prisoners. What is the grand illusion of the title? Various characters hold illusions. The aristocratic Captain de Boëldieu (Pierre Fresnay) and Rittmeister von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim) are desperately clinging to an illusion that the nobility still matter, and will have an important place after the war is finished. Even the aristocrats will not be kept safe from the horrors of war. Von Rauffenstein wears a neck and back brace that hinder his movements, the result of an early injury. He has burns, a fractured spine, and silver plates. The other aristocrat, de Boëldieu will die while distracting the guards during a planned escape. The working-class Lieutenant Maréchal (Jean Gabin) and the Jewish nouveau riche businessman Rosenthal (Marcel Dalio) hold the illusion that they need to fight until the war is over, and there will not be another one. By 1939, Renoir was fully aware how hollow this hope was. Later the escapees meet a German widow, Elsa (Dita Parlo). She shows them pictures of her brothers, who all died in the first year of World War One. The table in her lounge is too big for the use of herself and her son, because the other family members have died. The war will not be ended quickly by the well-meant efforts of Maréchal and Rosenthal, Perhaps Maréchal and Rosenthal will return to the war only to meet their deaths. In Renoir's view, war was futile, the grandest illusion of them all. He felt that that people were united by common economic and social interests that transcended ideology, nationality and race. This may seem to be an idealistic view to hold on the eve of a war that showed that people's sense of nationality still mattered more than class, but it was an important thing to say at this time. I wrote a longer appreciation of La Grande Illusion on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2020/11/20/la-grande-illusion-1937/

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/24/23

Full Review

Thomas V

Good film. An interesting precursor to The Great Escape l, but with something to say about war, humanity, and class. An interesting counterpart to Kubrick 's Paths of Glory.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

s r

1001 movies to see before you die. This was a powerful ironic humanistic tale of French prisoners of war that shatters "The Grand Illusion" of war, illuminating it for its truly troubling side of things and humanizing every person involved. The flutes and banging on pots and pans scene was the most amusing scene for its silliness. It was on Internet Archives.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

It is easy to shy away from works that are generally classified as anti-war films; the synthesis of an effective anti-war statement is all too easily produced. Yet the bulk of such efforts function through an uncompromising depiction of the harsh and traumatic realities of war, meaning that "The Grand Illusion" stands triumphantly alone in its emphasis on quiet and dispassionate resignation. Through a surprisingly leisurely approach, we meet attitudes of tired cynicism towards war expressed in sly ironic statements such as (and I paraphrase) "children play as soldiers, while soldiers play like children." Through an emphasis on the frustratingly arbitrary nature of wartime conflicts, we are offered a less strident and perhaps more useful view of war: it is merely tedious, tiresome and counterproductive. Although this description of the film has eluded any reference to the characters, suffice it to say that Erich Von Stroheim's depiction of the proud yet melancholic Von Raufenstein is itself a strong enough reason to see the film. In the elegant and insightful style characteristic of Renoir's greatest works, "The Grand Illusion" delivers a scathing indictment of war while cleverly sidestepping the obvious devices upon which lesser films almost always depend.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

Full Review

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Jean Renoir

Director

Pierre Fresnay

Capt. de Boieldieu

Erich von Stroheim

Capt. von Rauffenstein

Jean Gabin

Lt. Maréchal

Marcel Dalio

Lt. Rosenthal

Dita Parlo

Elsa (farm woman)

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Synopsis

A group of French soldiers, including the patrician Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay) and the working-class Lieutenant Maréchal (Jean Gabin), grapple with their own class differences after being captured and held in a World War I German prison camp. When the men are transferred to a high-security fortress, they must concoct a plan to escape beneath the watchful eye of aristocratic German officer von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim), who has formed an unexpected bond with de Boeldieu.

Director: Jean Renoir
Distributor: Barr Entertainment, Home Vision Entertainment
Production Co: R.A.C.
Genre: Drama, War
Original Language: French (Canada)
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 12, 1937, Wide
Rerelease Date (Theaters): May 11, 2012
Release Date (Streaming): May 14, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $516.5K
Runtime: 1h 57m