''French Cancan'' (also known as ''Only the French Can'') is a 1955

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film written and directed by

Jean Renoir Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. His '' La Grande Illusion'' (1937) and '' The Rules of the Game'' (1939) are often cited by critics as among the greate ...

and starring Jean Gabin, Francoise Arnoul and

María Félix María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña (; 8 April 1914 – 8 April 2002) was a Mexican actress and singer. Along with Pedro Armendáriz and Dolores del Río, she was one of the most successful figures of Latin American cinema in the 1940s and ...

. It marked Renoir's return to France and to French cinema after an exile that began in 1940. Where Renoir's previous film, '' The Golden Coach'' (1952), had celebrated the 18th-century Italian

commedia dell'arte Commedia dell'arte was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Theatre of Italy, Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is a ...

, this work is a homage to the Parisian café-concert of the 19th century, with its popular singers and dancers. Visually, the film evokes the paintings of

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is e ...

and the

Impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subjec ...

, including Renoir's own father,

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; ; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French people, French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, fe ...

Plot

In Paris in the late 1880s, Henri Danglard owns a fashionable, but not very profitable, nightclub called Le Paravent Chinois, where the main attraction is a solo belly dance by his mistress Lola. One night, he accompanies a group of friends to La Reine Blanche, a simple dance hall in

Montmartre Montmartre ( , , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement of Paris, 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Rive Droite, Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for its a ...

, where he sees people doing the old-fashioned, but high-energy, cancan. Struck by the suppleness and charm of a young laundress named Nini, he persuades her to take dancing lessons for a new show he is planning. He sells Le Paravent Chinois and, with additional funds from Baron Walter, a banker who is infatuated with Lola, buys and tears down La Reine Blanche, intending to replace it with a new venue—the

Moulin Rouge Moulin Rouge (, ; ) is a cabaret in Paris, on Boulevard de Clichy, at Place Blanche, the intersection of, and terminus of Rue Blanche. In 1889, the Moulin Rouge was co-founded by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller, who also owned the Olympia (Par ...

—at which a troupe of glamorous girls will perform the cancan. Tryouts, rehearsals, and demolition progress fairly smoothly, until Danglard is injured at the construction site in a fight with Paulo, Nini's jealous boyfriend. Danglard falls behind on his payments while he recuperates, and Lola, who is jealous of Danglard's growing relationship with Nini, arranges to buy his property out from under him. She offers to give control back to him if he drops Nini and the cancan, but he refuses. Fortunately for Danglard, Alexandre, a timid, wealthy prince, falls in love with Nini and, although she barely knows him and does not reciprocate his feelings, buys the property from Lola and gives it back to Danglard. Construction of the Moulin Rouge proceeds, and preparations get underway for opening night. Danglard begins to shift his focus from Nini to his newest discovery, Esther Georges, a maid whom he is turning into a singer. Lola tells Alexandre that Nini's relationship with Danglard is more than professional, and, when this is confirmed, the prince shoots himself. Lola feels terrible and apologises to everyone. Alexandre recovers, and Nini agrees to go out on the town with him for one night, after which he returns to his home country alone. On opening night, the house is packed and the audience is rapturous. Seeing Danglard kiss Esther after her song and follow her into her dressing room, Nini declares that she will not perform in the climactic cancan unless she can have Danglard all to herself. He responds that she can have a fabulous life with Alexandre or a conventional one with Paulo, but she will not be happy with him because he does not care for anything except the shows and performers that he is creating, and those change all the time. Everyone rushes off, ready to try to perform with the unrehearsed Lola in Nini's place, but Nini decides to dance after all. Danglard stays backstage alone and listens nervously to how his new cancan is received. Once he knows his new venture is a success, he joins the euphoric audience and hears a woman singing along behind him. He asks if she wants to go on the stage, and she says she does.

Cast

Uncredited

Production

The film was shot at the Joinville Studios in Paris. The sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Max Douy.

Critical reception

In a review in ''Arts'' magazine in May 1955,

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French filmmaker, actor, and critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. He came under the tutelage of film critic Andre Bazin as a ...

called the film a milestone in the history of colour of cinema, saying: "Every scene is a cartoon in movement ..Madame Guibole's dance class reminds us of a

Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French people, French Impressionism, Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, Print ...

sketch." While he did not consider it as important a film as '' Rules of the Game'' (1939) or '' The Golden Coach'' (1952), Truffaut nevertheless said it showed that Renoir was "as vigorous and youthful as ever." Writing in '' Positif'', Bernard Chardère did not receive the film so positively, however, criticising the music, the sets, and even the final cancan scene. He wrote: "The phoniness of the Rue Lepic, with its vegetable carts and piles of artificial stones is painful to look at. The actors act. The audience gets bored. The dance rehearsals are Degas all right, but the kind that appears on Post Office calendars." The film received the Grand Prix de l'Academie du Cinéma in 1956.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

added ''French Cancan'' to his "Great Movies" list in 2012.Roger Ebert
French Cancan
May 31, 2012

Notes

References

External links

*
''French Cancan''
– an essay by

Andrew Sarris Andrew Sarris (October 31, 1928 – June 20, 2012) was an American film critic. He was a leading proponent of the auteur theory of film criticism. Early life Sarris was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Greek immigrant parents, Themis (née Kat ...

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of art film, arth ...

{{Authority control 1955 films 1955 comedy-drama films 1955 musical comedy films 1950s dance films 1950s French films 1950s French-language films 1950s historical comedy-drama films 1950s historical musical films 1950s Italian films 1950s musical comedy-drama films Films directed by Jean Renoir Films scored by Georges Van Parys Films set in the 1880s Films set in the 1890s Films set in the Moulin Rouge Films shot at Joinville Studios French dance films French historical comedy-drama films French historical musical films French musical comedy-drama films French-language comedy-drama films French-language historical comedy films French-language historical drama films French-language historical musical films French-language Italian films French-language musical comedy films French-language musical drama films Italian dance films Italian historical comedy-drama films Italian historical musical films Italian musical comedy-drama films