The young man who introduced the screening of Jean Renoir’s Le Crime de M. Lange (France, 1936) on
behalf of the now rights holder Studio Canal said it had been the hardest
restoration ever done. Those who attended the first screenings in Australia
back in the early sixties, when it was part of a MUFS Night Season, recalled
only too well the quality of the 16mm copy on display. It wasn’t any better
when it was shown on SBS sometime in the 90s. Some of those who attended the
MUFS screening were actually back at the Arlecchino Cinema for the packed to
the rafters premiere that for many was the last of their jobs to tick off from
this year’s highly successful selection. Got that out of the way!
From the moment of the first credit there was a near instant sigh. Now
we could see it and even more hear it properly. The stories of Lange,
Valentine, Batala, Charlie and Estelle made me weep all over again. Once again
Renoir’s paean to spontaneous community action, of people joining together in
common cause and resisting ‘oppression’ lit up our lives. I’d forgotten the
character of the young son of the owner who arrives to survey his business to
be told that it is being turned into a co-operative. “What is a co-operative?”
he asks blankly before he is informed that the man leading the effort is also
the author of his beloved Arizona Jim serials. Enough said and Meunier joins
the throng.
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| Valentine (Odette Florelle) and Lange (Rene Lefevre), make their escape |
It is I think Renoir’s greatest film and one of the handful of the very
greatest thrown up by the cinema itself. Here’s Truffaut from the catalogue: Of
all Renoir’s films Monsieur Lange is
the most spontaneous, the richest in miracle of camerawork, the most full of
pure beauty and truth. In short it is a film touched by divine grace.
The 4K restoration work was done by Bologna’s incomparable L’Immagine Ritrovata
laboratory. Hopefully the new copy with its perfect English subtitles will be circulated in new Blu-ray editions around the world and peace will reign.
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