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LA MATERNELLE
Production: Photosonor. Direction: Benoit-Levy and Marie Epstein. Photography: G. Asselin. Art Direction: Max Rossi. Music: Edouard Flament. With Madeline Renaud, Mady Berry, Paulette Flambert.
This surely is the child-picture to end child-pictures for the time being; and no better picture could be found to mark a semicolon in this vogue for child actors. But let me say outright that this is in many ways an admirable film, most intelligently made, and played on all sides with a tenderness and sensibility that compel our respect. It is a story of Rose who, disappointed in love and deserted by her fiance, takes work as a nursemaid in a children's school. Among the kids is Marie, whose mother is a tart, and thus the child is left much alone. She is known to the staff as being "difficult,' in that her mentality is curiously complex. Her particular liking for animals plays an important part in events. When the old cook is about to throw a live mouse into the fire, it is Marie who struggles and bites to prevent the creature from being harmed. And as you expect, Marie's queer aloofness attracts to her the suppressed Rose. So the picture develops until the doctor, who is one of the superintendents of the school, declares his wish to marry Rose. Thus, once again, little Marie sees a man taking away her beloved one, just as she had seen her mother depart, and the child throws herself into the river. A rescue is effected, however.
Not particularly well-edited or photographed, the picture is notable for its brilliant treatment of the child mind, and the two directors are to be congratulated on their knowledge of child psychology. Throughout there are frequent incidents which reveal a deep understanding of children's mind-behaviour, from the little boy who cannot smile to the odd twisted attitude adopted by Marie when she is unhappy. The naturalness of the characterisation on the part of the adults and their attitude towards the children — one of the most difficult things to obtain on the screen — demands particular praise. Comedy is plentiful but is never forced. Sympathy is forthcoming for even the head-mistress because her moron mind is presented so naturally that her narrowness of outlook is to be pitied rather than condemned. Such sympathetic handling is all the more remarkable when we consider that no single player could be described as being physically likeable. Even little Marie, with her crooked teeth, sticking-out plaits and wan, thin face, is hardly attractive, and yet our sympathy is wholly with her. There are many emotionally disturbing moments; the final scene, when the doctor and Marie shake hands and become friends, being among the high spots of the year's cinema.
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