Friday, April 26, 2013

117. La femme du boulanger/The Baker's Wife (1938)


Running Time: 127 minutes
Directed By: Marcel Pagnol
Written By: Marcel Pagnol, from the novel Jean le Bleu by Jean Giono
Main Cast: Raimu, Ginette Leclerc, Fernand Charpin, Robert Vattier, Charles Blavette

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD

The single most hard to find film of the entire "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" book, has finally come into my grasp and into my field of vision and I have to say, while it was very hard to find, I think it's going to be a lot easier to forget. Of course, I'm talking about "The Baker's Wife".


Aimable Castanier (Raimu) is the new baker in a small village. The previous baker ended up hanging himself in the basement of the bakery, because he was a miserable drunk and so, the villagers are happy to have what seems like a very competent and friendly new bread maker in town. We also establish early on, that despite the quiet nature of the village from the outside, within the village their actually exists many feuds between the inhabitants. For example, one man doesn't like another because his large trees produce shade on his property, taking sunlight away from his prized, giant spinach plants. The baker is a married man and the villagers pretty much agree that the baker's wife is a very attractive woman. Her name is Aurelie (Leclerc) and when the Marquis comes to the bakery and brings his strong, handsome shepherd, Aurelie is stricken with lust. In fact, she's so stricken that the following morning, she ends up running off with the shepherd. In her absence, the bakery nearly burns down, because she wasn't there to wake Aimable at the right time, causing all the bread to burn. When Aimable realizes that Aurelie is gone, he denies it at first, refusing to believe that she ran off and rationalizing it by telling himself she's only gone to her mother's, for a visit. Later, he drowns his sorrows in a bottle and slowly starts to come to the realization that his wife has left him. Not getting any of their daily bread, the townspeople forget their petty feuds, band together and make it their mission to bring the baker's wife back to him, so that they can get back their bread.


Right away I question THE BOOK'S true intentions for including this movie, as they're sure to note that Raimu was one of Orson Welles' favorite actors. Now, did we include "The Baker's Wife" because it's truly a "must see" film, or did we include it because it's Raimu's best film and because Raimu was one of Welles' favorites? I really don't know, but what I do know is that "The Baker's Wife" certainly isn't one of the 1001 most must see pictures that has ever been made. Let me tell you that, kind of like "Me and My Gal", there wasn't a lot of substance to work with in this one. However, unlike "Me and My Gal", the director doesn't, in my opinion, make very good use of his time and the picture ends up running about thirty - forty minutes too long and I was left being bored for a big chunk in the middle. You've got a very distinct beginning, middle and end, and while the ends of the whole are fine, it's the middle where I'm left trying to salvage my connection to this picture. The beginning, which establishes the characters, their feuds, introduces the baker to the town and sees the departure of the wife, is a fine beginning and a set-up for what could certainly be a very acceptable picture, at the very least. Then, the middle, where Aimable spends what seems like a gargantuan amount of time stewing over the loss of his wife, sees the townspeople trying to console him and trying to think of ways to help him. Then, the end, which is also perfectly acceptable.


It all just seems so silly: a group of villagers trying to get the baker's wife back, because they simply can't live without him baking bread. I mean, the whole plot, sort of, hinges on bread! Okay, okay, so maybe there's a lot more to it than that. In fact, I was getting the sense of some very serous religious undertones in there and I'm thinking that there was a LOT of symbolism that I just wasn't picking up on. You had a lot of references to the town curate, the Lord's prayer (daily bread) and other such things. In fact, you may even be able to compare the baker's wife to God, like a priest losing his faith. When Aurelie wasn't there, Aimable couldn't go on making the bread, he'd lost the one he worshiped and therefore was left with no motivation. I don't know and I don't really want to get into a whole theorizing thing, because as I watched it, none of these symbols or undertones were prevalent enough to pick up on and it wasn't until afterwards that they kind of struck me. I watched the film for what it was, which was a baker who wasn't baking and the wife who stepped out on him and THAT wasn't good enough of a picture to be included amongst the 1001 best.

RATING: 5/10  I'll call it right down the middle, because for all my negativity, it wasn't THAT bad. Usually with average films, it's hard for me to focus on one side or the other and I end up having to either rant about the negative side or the positive side, but not both. Also, for the interested, this spot should've been "L'Atalante", but it's on a "short wait" from Netflix, so I skipped it...for now.

MOVIES WATCHED: 667
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 334

April 26, 2013  1:46pm

11 comments:

  1. Andrew,

    As you noted, this one is hard to find. Any tips or links? I've been told that others are harder to get (and I only have few left), but this one has escaped me.

    Sam

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    1. Sam,

      Thanks for swinging in. I had downloaded it off the net, but when I went to get the link tonight, to send it to another in need, it was gone. I'll keep an eye out for it though and if I ever track it down again, I'll let ya know.

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    2. Digging back a little into your archive, I hit film number 1000. Well, in my edition anyway.
      I had bee saving this one for a special ocassion, but someone else wanted my opinion, so i watched it last night as a sort of celebration of a day of delicious peace and quiet.
      So I settled down to watch something I had high hopes of, having seen and loved Pagnol's Marseilles Trilogy' made a few years earlier and also featuring Raimu. (AKA 'Fanny Trilogy, AKA Fanny and Caesar trilogy')

      MMmm.. for a film I had such high expectations of, I was a bit disappointed. Only a bit.
      As you say, it would have been much better 30 or 40 mins shorter, but as ever with such a comment, exactly which bits do you chop?
      But, by almost half way, I was pretty much captivated by it , that when Aimable went to the bar for a Perno, I scrabbled about in the back of by drinks cupboard for an ancient bottle of the stuff i'd not touched for..20 years.. and joined him in a glass (But not as many as he had). So with the help of that, and occasional use of fast forward (With subtitled films you can get away with that if you read quickly!), I had a pleasant evening.

      I also have to admit that in another frame of mind, the rather stereotype French rural characters may have struck me as a bit ... well, stereotypical, but I did enjoy the interplay between - for example- the priest and the teacher. (How did Harold Lloyd get into this picture??) (No, seriously, if you still have it, go back and look at the teacher .. )

      On the subject of getting hold of this.. Boy, it's a toughy. Ebay / Amazon, when they have it, it crops up at around the £100 mark. You can see it on Utube, but only in french.
      I tracked this down on iOffer, (Ebay's shifty and slightly dodggy brother-in-law). Even then, the first one I bought turned out to only have French. The second one has chunks where the subtitles just say "This scene is missing from my reference VHS copy'.
      Even the rest of it has long speeches that just get translated as "see you at Mass then".. leaving me feel I missed something.
      Ray

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    3. I don't recall, but I think my copy said "missing from my reference VHS" a few times. Oh well, I took it as a win and ran with it. It was the only way to see it and definitely the hardest to find of all the 1001 movies.

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  2. Well, I was finally able to get this one through an Interlibrary Loan (thanks University of West Georgia and Denver Public Library!), but the VHS quality was pretty bad. Lots of tracking issues. Nevertheless, I mostly enjoyed the film. I thought it was a fun look into the life a classic French village. And the final scene with the baker reconciling with his wife was really sweet. Totally agree about the middle being too long, though. I was definitely ready for the movie to hurry up and get to a resolution.

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  3. Yeah, this could've been great. It's still pretty fresh in my memory and thus, has left some sort of an impression on me. But still, too long.

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  4. Hello again William...Yes, this is a stinker to get hold of.. with English subtitles at least.. Glad we all agree..
    I you enjoyed the 'feel' of this one, do try and look out for 'Marius/Fanny'. Which incidentally I saw has just been remade, reputably not very well.

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    Replies
    1. I guess if you're talking directly to William, I have no reason to stick my nose in....

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    2. Thanks for the recommendation, Ray. I will check that out.

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  5. PS, have a quick look at the poster you use to illustrate this film..
    Now tell me, where was the bit where a clown did balloon modeling tricks?

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