Monday, July 19, 2010

Philippe de Broca: Le Roi de Cœur



















An effective parable of human nature set during the First World War, Philippe de Broca's Le Roi de Cœur (1966) / King of Hearts (1967) takes a multilingual route to sanity. Characters are French, Scottish, English and German caught between lines in the last year of the war. Centers around the escaped inmates of an insane asylum and a Scottish soldier they crown King of Hearts.

I showed this one in my The Great War and the 1920s class, and the students seemed receptive even in the early 21st century. The story unfolds in a way that is not clichéd and still carries water. Makes me think of the Dadaist artists and writers escaping the war -- unlike many of their peers who were wasted as cannon fodder in protracted trench warfare. And to what end?

Great actors, including Alan Bates, Geneviève Bujold and Pierre Brasseur.

Today's Rune: Defense.

3 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

You're probably not surprised that I haven't seen it. I would love to sit in your class though. I might learn to see movies like this in a very different light than I have before.

Erik Donald France said...

Oh, I wouldn't be surprised by anything. Would be fun to do a class exchange. Interdisciplinary is a good way to go.

Anonymous said...

茜茜知道他有了外遇
他變得春風滿面,嘴裡總是哼著歌曲
他開始變得有耐心聽她說話、會買禮物給她、甚至帶她出遊
茜茜知道這是因為他對外遇有愧疚
她沒有揭穿丈夫的外遇,甚至享受這樣的生活
茜茜偷偷的跟姐妹滔說:感謝老公的外遇帶來更美好的夫妻生活!