''Pastoral Symphony'' (French: ''La Symphonie pastorale'') is a 1946 French

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Jean Delannoy and starring Michèle Morgan, Pierre Blanchar and

Jean Desailly Jean Desailly (24 August 1920 – 11 June 2008) was a French actor. He was a member of the Comédie-Française from 1942 to 1946, and later participated in about 90 movies. Life and career Desailly studied at the École nationale supérieure des ...

.Crisp p.122 The film is based on the novella '' La Symphonie Pastorale'' by

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1947). Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism ...

and adapted to the screen by

Jean Aurenche Jean Aurenche (11 September 1904 – 29 September 1992) was a French screenwriter. During his career, he wrote 80 films for directors such as René Clément, Bertrand Tavernier, Marcel Carné, Jean Delannoy and Claude Autant-Lara. He is often ...

.It was shot at the

Neuilly Studios Neuilly (, ) is a common place name in France, deriving from the male given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as we ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

with sets designed by the art director

René Renoux René Renoux (1904–2000) was a French art director.Buache p.162 Selected filmography * ''The Pure Truth'' (1931) * '' Topaze'' (1933) * '' Prince Jean'' (1934) * '' Speak to Me of Love'' (1935) * '' You Can't Fool Antoinette'' (1936) * '' The ...

Location shooting Location shooting is the shooting of a film or television production in a real-world setting rather than a sound stage or backlot. The location may be interior or exterior. The filming location may be the same in which the story is set (for ex ...

took place around

Rossinière Rossinière is a municipality in the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut district of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. History Rossinière is first mentioned in 1155 as ''La Ransonery''. Geography Rossinière has an area, , of . Of this area, or 38.2% ...

in Switzerland. The film's score was by

Georges Auric Georges Auric (; 15 February 1899 – 23 July 1983) was a French composer, born in Lodève, Hérault, France. He was considered one of ''Les Six'', a group of artists informally associated with Jean Cocteau and Erik Satie. Before he turned 20 he ...

. At the

1946 Cannes Film Festival The 1st annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 20 September to 5 October 1946. Twenty-one countries presented their films at the "First Cannes International Film Festival", which took place at the former Casino of Cannes. Only one year after t ...

, it won the ''Grand Prix'' (equivalent of the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

) and the Best Actress award for Michèle Morgan. It was the film chosen to be shown at the opening gala of the Cameo cinema in Edinburgh, Scotland, in March 1949, and a rare surviving print with English subtitles was shown there again in 2009 to celebrate the film's 60th anniversary, courtesy of the BFI.

Plot summary

The

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

of a mountain village adopts a small blind girl, Gertrude. As Gertrude grows up into an attractive young woman, the pastor, now middle-aged, realises that he is in love with her. To his chagrin, his adopted son, Jacques, is also in love with Gertrude, even though he is shortly to be married to another woman. Jacques's fiancée is jealous of Gertrude and arranges for her to see a doctor in the hope that she might be cured and to enable Jacques to choose equally between the two women. Miraculously, Gertrude's sight is restored and she returns to the village a changed woman. Unable to accept Jacques' love and disappointed by the pastor's affections for her, she realises that her former happiness has been lost forever.

Cast

* Michèle Morgan as Gertrude * Pierre Blanchar as Le pasteur Jean Martens *

Line Noro Line Noro (22 February 1900 – 4 November 1985) was a French stage and film actress.Hayward p.172 During the 1930s she played glamorous, often exotic, women in films such as '' Pépé le Moko''. Between 1945 and 1966 Noro was a member of the Co ...

as Amélie Martens - sa femme *

as Jacques Martens - son fils * Andrée Clément as Piette Castéran * Jacques Louvigny as Castéran * Rosine Luguet as Charlotte Martens *

Mona Dol Mona Dol (28 May 1901 – 29 December 1990) was a French actress. Born Amélie Alice Gabrielle Delbart in Lille, she died in Paris in 1990. Selected filmography * ''Lucrezia Borgia'' (1935) * '' The Gardens of Murcia'' (1936) * '' Madame San ...

as Soeur Claire *

Robert Demorget The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

as Pierre Martens *

Hélène Dassonville Helene or Hélène may refer to: People *Helene (given name), a Greek feminine given name *Helen of Troy, the daughter of Zeus and Leda *Helene, a figure in Greek mythology who was a friend of Aphrodite and helped her seduce Adonis *Helene (Ama ...

as Mademoiselle de la Grange * Germaine Michel as La vieille paysanne * Florence Brière as Une amie de Gertrude * Albert Glado as Paul Martens

References

Bibliography

* Crisp, Colin. ''French Cinema—A Critical Filmography: Volume 2, 1940–1958''. Indiana University Press, 2015. * Leahy, Sarah & Vanderschelden, Isabelle. ''Screenwriters in French cinema''. Manchester University Press, 2021.

External links

* *
''La Symphonie Pastorale''
at filmsdefrance.com 1946 films 1946 drama films Palme d'Or winners Films based on short fiction Films directed by Jean Delannoy Films scored by Georges Auric French black-and-white films Films with screenplays by Jean Aurenche Films shot in Switzerland Pathé films French drama films 1940s French-language films 1940s French films {{1940s-France-film-stub