Rating: 4.5/5
Criterion Challenge 2023 | 42/52 | 1930s
During World War I, Captain de Boëldieu (Pierre Fresnay) and Lieutenant Maréchal (Jean Gabin), two French pilots, go on a mission to rephotograph an area of enemy territory. Their current photo has a gray smear.
It could be nothing. It could be something dire.
Captain von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim) of the Imperial German Army shoots down their plane and takes them prisoner. Rauffenstein invites them to have lunch with him and the other officers.
Rauffenstein and Boëldieu both come from aristocratic backgrounds. The two discover they have mutual acquaintances from before the war.
Maréchal, who injured his arm during the crash, receives help in cutting his food from a German officer. The two officers bond over being mechanics.
The Germans take the French pilots to a POW camp. They treat the soldiers according to their rank but are still subject to German law and discipline. If anyone attempts to escape, they will be shot.
One POW, while washing Maréchal’s feet, informs him of a tunnel they are digging in secret to escape. They’ve been working on it for months and expect to finish in a few weeks.
Maréchal believes the war will end before that. The POW isn’t so sure.
They quickly learn that where they are digging the tunnel is heavily guarded and that the Germans killed someone who attempted to escape through there.
The men put on a vaudeville show. During the vaudeville show, Maréchal runs in to announce a French victory. The act gets him put in solitary confinement.
Out there, children play soldier. In here, soldiers play like children.
Before the men can make their escape, the Germans make them switch camps. The Germans send Boëldieu and Maréchal to a fortress camp under the supervision of Major Rauffenstein.
The grand illusion of the title could refer to their escape plan. Their escape might lead them to the front lines, where their efforts can secure victory in the war. War is perhaps the grandest illusion, with the false hope that it can accomplish anything, including ending all wars.
This film isn’t the first anti-war picture, but the single most influential picture in the genre, as every meaningful war movie after it would aspire to its message of common brotherhood between humans far surpassing what war can accomplish.
Escape is always in the story’s background, but circumstances prevent them from succeeding. Still, they try again and again, often off-screen. It is the common goal that unites the men.
Lieutenant Rosenthal (Marcel Dalio) is a Franco-Jewish character whom the others accept as French. He considers himself even more French since his family owns French farmland. He and Maréchal have a complicated relationship, and Maréchal brings up his Jewishness as a point of contention. But their relationship ends up being the most poignant.
While plotting their escape, the men feel disheartened at the idea of leaving Maréchal behind in solitary confinement. When Maréchal returns, they all embrace him, and Rosenthal cries as he prepares Maréchal food. It doesn’t linger — it just lets you see what is happening and moves on.
You can't see borders. They're human creations. Nature couldn't care less.
A black officer attempts to speak to other officers, but they consistently ignore or barely acknowledge him. I’m not sure how intentional his presence is, but his scenes speak to how, even in prison, the others will not offer him brotherhood.
The vaudeville show is a delightful display of men embracing drag, at least by the other prisoners. The German soldiers look horrified.
This film is another one whose reputation made me worry it wouldn’t hit me the way it has others. This picture is brilliant, nuanced, and enthralling, keeping me invested.