''Carnival in Flanders'' is a 1935 French historical

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typic ...

film directed by Jacques Feyder. It is also widely known under its original title in French, ''La Kermesse héroïque''. A German-language version of the film was made simultaneously and was released under the title ''Die klugen Frauen'', featuring

Ernst Schiffner Ernst Günther Schiffner (23 July 1903, Marienwerder, West Prussia – 20 March 1980, Hamburg or Celle) was a German actor and director. Life The merchant's son had already played theater since 1919 and received his first roles at the Schausp ...

in one of his early film roles.

Plot

In 1616, when

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

is part of the Hispanic Monarchy, the town of

Boom Boom may refer to: Objects * Boom (containment), a temporary floating barrier used to contain an oil spill * Boom (navigational barrier), an obstacle used to control or block marine navigation * Boom (sailing), a sailboat part * Boom (windsurfin ...

, in the midst of preparations for its carnival, learns that a Spanish duke with his army is on the way to spend the night there. Fearing that this will inevitably result in rape and pillage, the mayor — supported by his town council — has the idea of pretending to be newly dead, in order to avoid receiving the soldiers. But his redoubtable wife Cornelia despises this stratagem and organises the other women to prepare hospitality and to adapt their carnival entertainments for the Spaniards (who insist on entering the town anyway). Such is the warmth of the women's welcome that not only do the Spaniards refrain from misbehaviour, but on their departure the Duke announces a year's remission of taxes for the town. Cornelia allows her husband to take the credit for their good fortune, but she has in the meantime thwarted his plans for their daughter to marry the town butcher instead of the young painter Brueghel whom she loves.

Cast

Françoise Rosay Françoise Rosay (; born Françoise Bandy de Nalèche; 19 April 1891 – 28 March 1974) was a French opera singer, diseuse,''Design'', Volume 9 1965 p. 24 and actress who enjoyed a film career of over sixty years and who became a legendary figur ...

as Cornelia de Witte, Madame la Bourgmestre/Madame Burgomaster *

André Alerme André Alerme (9 September 1877 – 31 January 1960) was a French actor. Alerme was born Marie André Alerme in Dieppe, Seine-Maritime, France and died at the age of 82 in Montrichard, Loir-et-Cher, France. Selected filmography * ''Black and Wh ...

as Korbus de Witte, le bourgmestre/The Burgomaster (as Alerme) *

Jean Murat Jean Murat (13 July 1888, in Périgueux – 5 January 1968, in Aix-en-Provence) was a French actor. He was married to the French actress Annabella. Selected filmography * ''Sex'' (1920) * '' La Galerie des monstres'' (1924), as Sveti * '' Carme ...

as Le duc d'Olivarès/The Duke *

Louis Jouvet Jules Eugène Louis Jouvet (24 December 1887 – 16 August 1951) was a French actor, theatre director and filmmaker. Early life Jouvet was born in Crozon. He had a stutter as a young man and originally trained as a pharmacist. He receive ...

as Le chapelain/The Priest *Lyne Clevers as La poissonnière/The Fish-Wife (as Lynne Clevers) *

Micheline Cheirel Micheline Cheirel (born Micheline Truyen; 12 April 1917 – 25 October 2002) was a 20th-century French actress, active from 1934 to 1947. She was the niece of the actress Jeanne Cheirel. Personal life She married British actor John Loder as hi ...

as Siska *Maryse Wendling as La boulangère/The Baker's Wife *Ginette Gaubert as L'aubergiste/The Inn-Keeper's Wife *Marguerite Ducouret as La femme du brasseur/The Brewer's Wife *

Bernard Lancret Bernard Lancret (4 September 1912 – 5 September 1983) was a French film actor. He appeared in over thirty films between 1935 and 1956 in a mixture of leading and supporting roles. He played the composer Franz Schubert in the 1940 film '' Séré ...

as Julien Breughel, a young painter *

Alfred Adam Alfred Roger Adam (4 April 1908 – 7 May 1982) was a French stage and film character actor, who usually played weak or villainous roles. Selected filmography *'' Speedway'' (1929) - Doctor (uncredited) *'' La Kermesse Héroïque'' (1935) - Jos ...

as Josef Van Meulen, le boucher *Pierre Labry as L'aubergiste/The Inn-Keeper *

Arthur Devère Arthur Devère (24 June 1883 – 23 September 1961) was a Belgian film actor. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1913 and 1956. Selected filmography * ''L'agent Rigolo et son chien policier'' (1913) * ''Flup chasseur'' (1920) * ''L ...

as Le poissonnier/The Fishmonger (as Arthur Devere) *Marcel Carpentier as Le boulanger/The Baker *

Alexander D'Arcy Alexander D'Arcy ( ar, ألكسندر دارسي; 10 August 1908 – 20 April 1996) was an Egyptian stage, television and film actor with an international film repertoire. Career Born Alexander Sarruf in Cairo, Egypt, D'Arcy, variously credited ...

as Le capitaine/The Captain (as Alexandre Darcy) *Claude Sainval as Le lieutenant/The Lieutenant (as Claude Saint Val) *Delphin as Le nain/The Dwarf

Background and production

''Carnival in Flanders'' / ''La Kermesse héroïque'' was made by Jacques Feyder immediately after his dark psychological drama ''

Pension Mimosas ''Pension Mimosas'' is a 1935 French drama film directed by Jacques Feyder. Based on an original scenario by Feyder and Charles Spaak, it is a psychological drama set largely in a small hotel on the Côte d'Azur, and it provided Françoise Rosay ...

'', and he said that he wanted to relax by making a farce, far removed from the present day. He turned to a short story written at his suggestion ten years earlier by

Charles Spaak Charles Spaak (25 May 1903 – 4 March 1975) was a Belgian screenwriter who was noted particularly for his work in the French cinema during the 1930s. He was the son of the dramatist and poet Paul Spaak, the brother of the politician Paul-Henri ...

, set in 17th century Flanders when it was under Spanish occupation. For the visual style of the film, Feyder wanted to pay tribute to the old masters of his native country — Brueghel,

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, , ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, chiefly of individual and group portraits and of genre works, who lived and worked in Haarlem. Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century grou ...

, Pieter de Hoogh — and an elaborate creation of a Flemish town was undertaken (in suburban Paris) by the designer

Lazare Meerson Lazare Meerson (1900–1938) was a Russian-born cinema art director. After emigrating to France in the early 1920s, he worked on French films of the late silent cinema and the early 1930s, particularly those directed by René Clair and Jacques F ...

. Sumptuous costumes were provided by Georges K. Benda. The strong cast included Feyder's wife

and

. The film was produced by the French subsidiary of the German firm Tobis, and it was made in two versions, French and German, with alternative casts (apart from Françoise Rosay who appeared in both).

Reception

On the strength of its richly detailed tableaux and the confident manner in which Feyder animated his historical farce, the film enjoyed considerable success in France and elsewhere in the world. The film historian Raymond Chirat pointed to the combination of the admirable sets, the splendid costumes, the biting irony of the story, and the quality of the acting which earned the film a cascade of awards, the admiration of the critics, and the support of the public. Georges Sadoul referred to "this important work, of exceptional beauty". Writing for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...

'' in 1936,

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

gave the film a good review, praising director Feyder for his ability to add "into his ribald story a touch of the genuine, and simple emotion". Comparing the film to Restoration prose, Greene claims that the "photography moves with a fine strut", and summarizes it as "an admirable film, a little obscene like most good comedies, and beautifully acted". Feyder won the Best Director Award at the 4th Venice International Film Festival in 1936. However, even on its first appearance in 1935 this tale of occupation and cheerful collaboration also caused uneasiness, and the screenwriter

Henri Jeanson Henri Jules Louis Jeanson (6 March 1900 in Paris – 6 November 1970 in Équemauville) was a French writer and journalist. He was a "satrap" in the "College of 'Pataphysics". As a journalist before World War II Jeanson was born on 6 Mar ...

deplored the "Nazi inspiration" of the film. It was indeed enthusiastically praised in Germany, and its première in Berlin (15 January 1936) took place in the presence of

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the '' Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to ...

. (Yet, a few days after the outbreak of war in 1939, the film was banned in Germany and the occupied countries of Europe, and Jacques Feyder and Françoise Rosay subsequently sought refuge in Switzerland.) It was in Belgium that the film caused greatest controversy, perhaps for the unflattering portrayal of Flemish leaders in the 17th century, or in suspicion of covert references to the German occupation of Belgian territory during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. At any rate, the release of the film led to brawls in cinemas in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...

, and

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

. Even two decades later (1955), its enduring reputation irked

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. After a career of more th ...

who wrote, in a broadside against so-called 'successful' films: "In this regard, the most hateful film is unarguably ''La Kermesse héroïque'' because everything in it is incomplete, its boldness is attenuated; it is reasonable, measured, its doors are half-open, the paths are sketched and only sketched; everything in it is pleasant and perfect."François Truffaut. ''The films in my life''; translated by Leonard Mayhew (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978), p.35. Nevertheless, this remains probably the most popular and widely known of Jacques Feyder's films.

Awards

* 1936 Grand Prix du cinéma français * 1936 4th Venice International Film Festival : Jacques Feyder, best director * 1936

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...

, USA : best foreign film * 1937

New York Film Critics Circle Awards The New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) is an American film critic organization founded in 1935 by Wanda Hale from the New York ''Daily News''. Its membership includes over 30 film critics from New York-based daily and weekly newspapers, magazi ...

: best foreign film * 1938 Kinema Junpo Awards : best foreign film

Influences

The film was the basis for an American musical, called '' Carnival in Flanders'', which was produced in 1953.

References

External links

* * * *
''La Kermesse héroïque''
at filmsdefrance {{Authority control French historical comedy films 1930s historical comedy films 1935 romantic comedy films 1935 films French black-and-white films Films directed by Jacques Feyder Film controversies in Belgium Films set in Flanders Films set in the 1610s Films shot in Bruges Films shot in Paris French multilingual films French historical romance films French romantic comedy films 1935 multilingual films 1930s French-language films 1930s French films