I am so glad guest director J.P. Gorin and the co-directors of Telluride 2006 have introduced me to the work of Jean Grémillon. It boggles my mind such a film like
Maldonne can be almost 80 years old and still overlooked. The sequence in the dance hall alone makes this film worth finding at all costs and should be cited in text books next to the Odessa Steps sequence of
Battleship Potemkin and the Chorus Girls sequence in
Citizen Kane.
It's rare to see a film, like
Maldonne, overflowing with experimentation but, at the same time, holding firm to sensitive storytelling. Whenever I see a film like this I want to mainline it into the veins of film students. Such creativity brings courage to artists of any age. I love this quote filmmaker J.P. Gorin wrote in a note to himself "as a self medication,"
When stuck: Take two Grémillon and call me tomorrow...