Maurice Pialat's L'Amour existe (1960)

Maurice Pialat's L'Amour existe is one his first shorts, and is a kind of documentary, a kind of social critique, but more of a poem, or a very poetical rant. It lasts a mere twenty minutes, and Pialat's words are spoken over a number of images of mainly the Parisian suburbs, as opposed to central Paris itself, by Jean-Loup Reynold. The first word is 'Longtemps', as if Pialat were pouring out his knowledge in Proustian fashion. But here is a knowledge of the suburbs of Paris, of the change that 'progress' has brought, the (not so attractive as in some parts of Paris) HLMs which block out the sunlight, the two-, three- or four-hour commute to work and back, the immigrant bidonvilles in Massy just three kilometres from the Champs-Élysées. In the bidonvilles is a 'Hotel Floride' which is either ironic, hopeful, or a joke on Pialat's part. Also ironic – and presumably a blackly humorous touch by Pialat – is the felled street sign 'Rue Oradour Glane', a reference to the Nazi massacre of the inhabitants in the village of Oradour-sur-Glane (Haute-Vienne) in the closing months of World War II.

There is a number of statistics here, such as there being only three per cent of working-class children at universities, of whom there are only one and a half per cent in Paris. The most devastating sentence in this wonderful work is 'De plus en plus la publicité prévaut contre la réalité' ('Increasingly, advertising triumphs over reality.') In our post-political internet age, this sentence rings far more true than when it was written more than sixty years ago. This is a wonderful work of immense anger.

Maurice Pialat's La Maison des bois 7 (1971)

Hervé in his step-family is a painful experience: he may get on well with Brigitte, but the others are a world away, full of a mentally constipated bourgeois urban existence that is far from the rural idyll which has been Hervé's life. Albert visits to tell of Jeanne's ill health, Hervé runs from his new home to see her on her deathbed, and as his father and step-mother come to take him back to Paris the series closes.

An expression I didn't know is 'faire chabrot', which has many dialectal variations, but refers to diluting the thick bottom content of a dish of soup with wine. It is apparently then often drunk straight from the dish, although Paul uses a spoon. He also uses a large quantity of wine: Paul's drinking is one of the criticisms of his wife Hélène, and (as a strong contrast to the life that Hervé has known at La Maison des bois) the relationship is far from idyllic. This is my first Pialat, and certainly won't be my last.

Conveniently, the French Wikipédia provides a précis of each episode, which I give at the bottom of each post here: as La Maison des bois deserves more than one long blog post, I make seven short ones.

Épisode 7

1 La tour Eiffel – 2 Hervé et sa belle-famille – 3 Hervé et Brigitte – 4 L’atelier d’ébénisterie – 5 La cartomancienne – 6 Faire chabrot – 7 Le père d’Hervé a disparu – 8 – Devoirs d’école – 9 La dispute – 10 Les confidences d’un père – 11 Le cauchemar d’Hervé – 12 Le petit déjeuner au lit – 13 Hélène et Brigitte – 14 Albert à Paris – 15 La fugue d’Hervé – 16 Maman Jeanne se meurt – 17 Les gendarmes enquêtent – 18 Hervé revient à la Maison des bois - 19 Le marquis raisonne Hervé – 20 Au chevet de Maman Jeanne – 21 Générique

Maurice Pialat's La Maison des bois 6 (1971)

The Armistice has come and it's a time of great rejoicing. But not for those who've lost loved ones, such as the Picard family, and the schoolteacher (Pialat himself) tries to teach his pupils that it's not just a time of celebration but of remembrance. Bébert and Michel leave with their mothers, and Hervé soon follows, with somewhat heavy heart. He's re-joining the father he hardly knew, to live with him in Paris with Hélène (Barbara Laage), his step-mother, and her child by her previous relationship, Brigitte (Brigitte Perrier).

Conveniently, the French Wikipédia provides a précis of each episode, which I give at the bottom of each post here: as La Maison des bois deserves more than one long blog post, I make seven short ones.

Épisode 6

1 La vie continue – 2 L’armisticide – 3 Vive la France – 4 Le champ d’honneur – 5 L’instituteur – 6 La cour de récréation – 7 Le cadeau du marquis – 8 Les filles – 9 Le départ de Bébert et Michel – 10 Hervé dans son nouveau costume – 11 La nouvelle famille d’Hervé – 12 La maison est vide – 13 Une nouvelle pensionnaire – 14 Hervé et Magali – 15 Leçon de géographie – 16 Les adieux d’Hervé – 17 Générique

Maurice Pialat's La Maison des bois 5 (1971)

Some of Pialat's scenes are an almost idyllic representation, such as the bathing episode, which is shot in long loving takes, as if in opposition to the war, as if (almost) that it doesn't exist. Then Paul (Paul Crauchet), Hervé's father, visits briefly. And, as Albert feared, Marcel is declared dead. The war may be nearing its end, but it will be a tragic one for the Picard family.

Conveniently, the French Wikipédia provides a précis of each episode, which I give at the bottom of each post here: as La Maison des bois deserves more than one long blog post, I make seven short ones.

Épisode 5

1 Génerique – 2 L’exode – 3 Retour à la Maison des bois – 4 Des nouvelles de Marcel – 5 Les collets – 6 Autour de la table – 7 Le braconnier – 8 Albert chez le marquis – 9 Le bain familial – 10 Des histoires d’enfants – 11 Le père d’Hervé en permission – 12 Le temps de la guerre – 13 Le père s’en va – 14 Courage Jeanne – 15 La tristesse

Maurice Pialat's La Maison des bois 4 (1971)

There are surely numerous criticisms of war in this series, and this is one of them. French soldiers arrive, pitch tent, the children befriend them, and in turn play at war. In a real war game in which a German aviator is killed, there is a very long shot of a French soldier guarding the body, and he is almost motionless but he seems to register boredom, embarrassment, and/or resignation: typically, and wonderfully, so Pialat.

This is what the teacher has his pupils intone by rote: 'La France est ma patrie. Je l’aime comme mon père et ma mère. Afin de lui prouver mon amour, je veux maintenant être un enfant laborieux et sage pour être, quand je serai grand, un bon citoyen et un brave soldat…' ('France is my country. I love it as my father and mother. In order to prove my love, I now want to be hard-working and good, to be, when I grow up, a good citizen and a brave soldier.' (My translation.)

Conveniently, the French Wikipédia provides a précis of each episode, which I give at the bottom of each post here: as La Maison des bois deserves more than one long blog post, I make seven short ones.

Épisode 4

1 L’arrivée des soldats – 2 Le bivouac – 3 Les enfants jouent à la guerre – 4 Hervé chez la femme de l’aviateur – 5 Maman Jeanne et les Parisiennes – 6 Jeu de quilles – 7 Repas du dimanche – 8 Hervé à la peche – 9 Hervé grondé – 10 À l’école – 11 Albert est de garde – 12 Un tour en avion – 13 Hervé chez l’aviateur – 14 Combat aérien – 15 L’avion abattu – 16 Générique.

Maurice Pialat's La Maison des bois 3 (1971)

Mme Latour (Micha Bayard) and Mme Pouilly (Marie-Christine Boulart), Michel and Bébert's mothers, arrive at an empty Maison des bois, obviously not knowing that their letters have been destroyed by a jealous Hervé. Meanwhile the Picard family enjoy a picnic which recalls Renoir's film Une partie de campagne (1936), which in turn recalls some paintings by Monet, Pialet having been a painter before he was a film director. Marcel leaves for the war.

Conveniently, the French Wikipédia provides a précis of each episode, which I give at the bottom of each post here: as La Maison des bois deserves more than one long blog post, I make seven short ones.

Épisode 3

1 Une messe – 2 La carriole – 3 Les Parisiennes attendent – 4 Le pique-nique – 5 Querelles de mères – 6 Partie de campagne – 7 L’attente à la Maison des Bois – 8 Chandelle ! – 9 Un malentendu – 10 Hervé s’explique – 11 Marcel prend un bain – 12 Marcel incorporé – 13 Tournée générale – 14 La fête dégénère – 15 Marcel part à la guerre – 16 Générique. 

Maurice Pialat's La Maison des bois 2 (1971)

Hervé, in a conversation with the postman, learns that his father intends to re-marry. He destroys this and other letters which are addressed to his host family, and becomes familiar with the affable widowed Marquis (Fernand Gravey).

Conveniently, the French Wikipédia provides a précis of each episode, which I give at the bottom of each post here: as La Maison des bois deserves more than one long blog post, I make seven short ones.

Épisode 2

1 Générique – 2 Les pleurs d’une mère – 3 Scène au café – 4 Conversation avec monsieur le marquis – 5 Lettres du front – 6 Du plomb dans les fesses – 7 Albert tiré d’affaire – 8 L’arrivée des Parisiennes – 9 À la santé d’Albert – 10 Hervé à la table du marquis – 11 La lettre volée – 12 Catéchisme – 13 Les ambulances – 14 Générique de fin.

Maurice Pialat's La Maison des bois 1 (1971)

Coming after Pialat's first feature L'Enfance nue (1968) about a child in host families, it seemed normal that the director should be considered appropriate for this television series, which is in seven parts and in total lasts for more than six hours: this is therefore not a feature film, but stands outside the small total number of ten features which Pialat made, between L'Enfance nue and Nous ne vieillirons pas ensemble (1972). Pialat said on occasions that it is his best film, although – a little along the lines of the expression 'Bresson avant Bresson' – others think that Pialat's 'real' film-making began with Loulou (1980).

The first episode is understandably dedicated to exposition, and the setting is rural, in a village in L'Oise, and the time is during the 1914-18 war. Gamekeeper Albert Picard (Pierre Doris) and his wife Jeanne (Jacqueline Dufranne) have a young adult daughter Marguerite (Agathe Natanson) and son Marcel (Henri Puff), but also take in young children whose fathers are fighting and whose mothers have to work, although one of the three women – the mother of Hervé (Hervé Lévy) – has left home permanently. The other children, Michel (Michel Tarrazon) and Bébert (Albert Martinez), are visited regularly by their mothers at La Maison des bois.

In this first part the viewer sees and learns a number of things, such as: the village teacher (Pialat himself) at work; the death of the marquise in a road accident; the churchwarden's liking for the curé's wine.

Conveniently, the French Wikipédia provides a précis of each episode, which I give at the bottom of each post here: as La Maison des bois deserves more than one long blog post, I make seven short ones.

Épisode 1

1 Un soldat en permission – 2 Histoire de France – 3 La marquise est morte – 4 Le goûter à la confiture – 5 La famille Picard – 6 L’oiseau en cage – 7 Le vin de monsieur le cure – 8 Cérémonie mortuaire – 9 Un bon café – 10 Le facteur – 11 Les poules – 12 Jouer à la guerre – 13 Le terrain d’aviation – 14 Le bedeau et la bigote – 15 La chorale – 16 Le marquis et le cafetier – 17 Hervé au château.