Le Caporal épinglé (1962)
Directed by Jean Renoir

Film Review

Nearing the end of his film-making career, Jean Renoir returned to the subject of his most famous film, La Grande illusion, a powerful study of male conflict and camaraderie, centred around a POW prison break-out during World War I.  Based on a novel by Jacques Perret, Le Caporal épinglé is concerned with a similar situation during the Second World War and is the closest that Renoir ever came to making a sequel to one of his films.

Although the setting and the characters of Le Caporal épinglé and La Grande illusion are virtually identical, there are some striking differences.  The social and racial differences which divide men, so evident in La Grand illusion, have all but disappeared by the 1940s, and perhaps the things which most separate men are their philosophy on life and their cultural pretensions.  In its way, Le Caporal épinglé is every bit as illuminating as La Grande illusion, both films illustrating perfectly Renoir's humanity and his profound understanding of human nature.  Viewed together, they show - perhaps more clearly than any other pair of films - how much things have changed between the two world wars.  The prescience shown in La Grand illusion is more than borne out by what we see in Le Caporal épinglé.

Despite favourable box office receipts, Le Caporal épinglé met with very mixed criticism when it was released in 1962.  There was almost universal praise for the fresh acting talent which the film revealed (in the form of Jean-Pierre Cassel, Claude Brasseur and Claude Rich) but also a fair amount of antipathy towards the director, whom many judged to be way past his best.   Certainly, Le Caporal épinglé does not have the genius and legendary character of La Grande illusion, but, a more modest and less stylised work, it does stand up well in comparison with Renoir's lesser films.  Where the film is funny, it is hilariously funny; where it is moving, it is devastatingly so.   Renoir's capacity for drawing every inch of humanity out of each scene (by enabling his actors to give their best) is evident throughout this film.  If the film has a fault it is Joseph Kosma's overly intrusive music which takes away far more than it appears to add. 

One of the most remarkable aspects of this film is Renoir's decision not to cast an established actor in the principal or supporting roles.  The director initially considered Daniel Gélin for the role of the corporal, then Robert Lamoureux and even Jean Gabin, before settling on Jean-Pierre Cassel (his first major role).  Renoir's capacity for spotting talent can be seen just by reading the film's cast list: Claude Brasseur, Claude Rich, Jean Carmet, Mario David and Philippe Castelli - all virtually unknown at the time, but all destined for prominent acting careers.  The film's raw acting talent goes some way towards explaining its striking sense of freshness and modernity, allowing it to bear a favourable comparison with the films of the New Wave directors of the time.

After Le Caporal épinglé , Jean Renoir had a number of ideas for further films, but no film producer was willing to offer him financial backing and so these had to be abandoned.   Ironically, at the time when Renoir was being confirmed as one of the most important figures in film history, the commercial reality prevented him from making any further films for the cinema.   His final film (Le Petit théâtre de Jean Renoir) was made for French television in 1969, an ignominious end to an extraordinary filmmaking career.

Film Synopsis

June, 1940.  In a German prisoner-of-war camp in North-East France, three soldiers are united by their desire to escape and return to their ordinary civilian lives.  They are a middle-class corporal, a myopic intellectual, Ballochet, and an ordinary working class man nicknamed Pater.  After their first attempt fails, thanks to Ballochet losing his spectacles, the corporal and Pater try again - and again.  Although the corporal comes close to finding his freedom, his good luck always runs out at the last moment.  Ultimately, the three soldiers find themselves in a German disciplinary camp, but their resolve to escape remains as strong as ever.