ABSTRACT
Previous chapters have suggested that in Renoir’s films from 1940 onwards the effects of war are often silently present even when there is little or no explicit reference to contemporary events: in Scott’s nightmares in The Woman on the Beach, for example, or Captain John’s missing leg in The River; in the foreboding of the collapse of communities in Swamp Water and The Southerner; or masked by the colourful diversions of The Golden Coach, French Cancan and Elena et les hommes. This chapter looks at three works by Renoir which directly depict the Second World War: the films This Land Is Mine and Le Caporal épinglé and the play Carola. 1 This Land Is Mine was made in 1943, whilst France was an occupied country. It did reasonable business in the US, but had a hostile reception on its post-war release in France. Carola was first performed in 1960 and Le Caporal épinglé was filmed in 1962, during a period when France was reluctant to confront aspects of its wartime past. Renoir’s depiction of his compatriots during the war is far from being consistently laudatory. Even when the French do not appear as openly collaborationist, they are often weak, vain or cowardly. It is hardly surprising that French audiences were unwilling to recognize this reflection of their own image.
