Synopsis
A viceroy, a nobleman and a bullfighter court a comedy-troupe actress in 18th-century Peru.
1952 ‘Le Carrosse d'or’ Directed by Jean Renoir
A viceroy, a nobleman and a bullfighter court a comedy-troupe actress in 18th-century Peru.
Anna Magnani Odoardo Spadaro Nada Fiorelli Dante Duncan Lamont George Higgins Ralph Truman Gisella Mathews Raf De La Torre Elena Altieri Paul Campbell Riccardo Rioli William Tubbs Jean Debucourt Renato Chiantoni Fedo Keeling Alfredo Kolner Lina Marengo Cecil Mathews Alfredo Medini Maja Niles John Pasetti Juan Pérez Robert Rietti Rino Giulio Tedeschi
Gullkareten, La carrozza d'oro, La carroza de oro, Die goldene Karosse, Az aranyhintó, Den gyllene karossen, 황금마차, 黄金马车, A Carruagem de Ouro, Złota Karoca, Золотая карета
At the stage, all drama is comedy and all comedy is drama. Delightful and sad in equal measures. A key look at what actors and theatre mean to Renoir and one of his movies the better solve the geometry of multiple desires that is often at the center of his more theatrical films.
Sendo bem sincero, o antiformalismo que tem sido reivindicado por uma galera que apareceu por aí nos últimos anos, que só fala das coisas em termos de "elegância", "luxo", "leveza", "vida", "prazer" (como se essas coisas fossem incompatíveis, antônimos mesmo das práticas formalistas; como se não fossem, no interior de um filme, qualidades da forma desse filme), uma galera que de repente surge do nada já equipada com uns nomes do cinema clássico que foram convenientemente transformados em medalhões desses valores - Grémillon, Cukor, Lubitsch, Renoir, Hawks -, apesar dos ares de quem atenta contra modelos estagnantes e tenta ser novo, é a coisa mais batida, banal e corriqueira no panorama dos dias que correm; esse antiformalismo nada mais é,…
91/100
The world is a stage. A comedy of love, life and art with some commentary on class. It's utterly delightful but there's a touch of melancholy as well. Lush technicolour, gorgeous sets and costumes create a feast for the eyes and something wonderfully alluring. The dialogue is witty, Renoir's direction is superb and as usual his characters are terrific. Anna Magnani is marvelous as always in a performance of lot of depth. Duncan Lamont too shines as the viceroy. Overall this one really surprised me, didn't expect to love it this much. It almost reached the levels of French Cancan. Also the ending is just majestic.
Set in 18th-century Peru, The Golden Coach manages in serving up an elegant mix of humour together with the occasional moment of severity. Jean Renoir directs the comedy with a joyous and infectious enthusiasm that displays his fondness for the theatre, and we follow a travelling commedia dell'arte as well as three men from differing social status while they are contesting for the affections of Camilla (Anna Magnani), an actress within the troupe.
Based on a Prosper Mérimée play entitled Le Carrosse du Saint-Sacrement, it features plenty of aesthetically pleasing cinematography by Claude Renoir as the characters move among one another and engage with some immensely gentle and cheerful sentiment, additionally complemented by a strikingly gorgeous mixture of colour combined…
Stages within stages within stages, with an actress whose ability to entrance all men turns even her genuine romances into works of artistry and reward. A dazzling feature, every bit as minutely detailed and exuberant as French Cancan, while retaining Renoir's wry but generous approach to character.
I was a little taken aback to find myself thinking most of Lubitsch here—the Lubitsch of doorways, entrances and exits. Why is it that this interstitial space lends itself so well to the games these costumes play? That’s rhetorical, you don’t need to answer it. What I’m pointing to here is ‘the game’, that the fact of the matter (drama) operates and is experienced as a game, one in which the characters make their play, bluff, reveal their hand, and which radiates the modernity told to us in Shakespeare’s line—impossible to get out of your head here—that “all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players”. It’s in this sense that both directors manifest the ‘class…
A theatre company in colonial south america creates such a stir that their lead actress gets presented with the Viceroy's coveted Golden Coach.
As with French Cancan the overwhelming tone of this one is joyfulness. Renoir seemingly revelling in the act of film making, colour film making in particular, to give us something that is funny, playful and sexy while also scoring it's points about class and snobbery as well as any of his 1930s French works and giving us a celebration of the power of theatre.
The performances, especially Anna Magnani and Duncan Lamont but also her other competing lovers, are excellent. The compositions are showy enough to bring a smile to your face without really overwhelming the story and the use of colour and theatricality is excellent. It even makes Commedia dell'arte bearable.
Film 5/100 on my 5 by ....
letterboxd.com/owene73/list/5-by-auteurs/
One forgets that when Anna Magnani laughs, she is acting. And in no film is she more generous with that laughter than this color Renoir.
Really ambitious in all it tries to tackle, so I can't hate it, even though I don't think The Golden Coach has much to offer. It's a farce, it's a satire, it's a melodrama, it's the story of the theatre. Because it's all these things, it's interesting to watch, but it also becomes none of these things. The romances aren't well developed enough to be a successful melodrama, and the jokes aren't funny enough to be a hilarious farce. I'm still trying to parse out what this was trying to say about colonialism, nobility, and class, and honestly, I got nothing.
Anna Magnani is the saving grace. She was a one in a million actress.
The Golden Coach starts with Vivaldi over black. I'm home. Then the opening credits announce that Vivaldi will be the musical accompaniment for the entire film. Bangarang. Then the curtain rises on a stage to reveal an opulent hacienda set. We're gently pushed into it. A glorious transition from stage to cinema occurs by way of a single cut. It's probably the most appealing cold open I've seen since Once Upon a Time in the West.
It did not let me down from there. It hit my sweet spot. Lovers chase each other and quarrel in flurries of romantic flightiness, but there's also social commentary aplenty as the ambivalent, uber rich viceroys stand in the way of passion. It's not…
O CELULOIDE E O MÁRMORE [1]
por Eric Rohmer
(“Le celluloid et le marbre”, Cahiers du Cinéma N°44, p. 32-37)
Os pintores, os músicos, os romancistas, os poetas jamais tiveram escrúpulos em lançar um julgamento ao cinema, seja precipitado ou prudente, entusiasta ou severo. Revertendo os papéis, é em nome do amador de cinema que Eric Rohmer se propõe a examinar as outras artes. Frequentar as salas escuras teria enfraquecido nossa sensibilidade às outras formas de expressão? Ou, pelo contrário, nos teria enriquecido com novas exigências? É possível admirar, ao mesmo tempo, e pelo mesmo motivo, Picasso e Jean Renoir? As respostas que ele nos dá a partir de hoje não pretendem ser definitivas, nem mesmo imparciais. Através deste confronto,…