The Grand Illusion Analysis

Randall Webster

French History in Film

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Set during the first World War and released as a response to the second's coming, The

Grand Illusion portrays the changing political and social landscape of the early to mid 20th

century. Along with the representation of changing times, specifically in regard to the subject of

class, the director offers up critique of both the old and the new. One that may seem naive in

today's world. What film implies is, in essence, that the social boundaries and hierarchies of our

everyday lives are the cause of a majority of our society's ills.

Displaying the social change in 20th century Europe, the film offers two contrasting class

hierarchies. The first is the old, aristocratic, elite whose power stems mostly from their bloodline,

a tradition older than the area's conquest by Rome. This class is represented by de Boeldieu and

von Rauffenstein as the two share and face similar situations on either side of the war. The other

class system is, in accordance to historical consensus, shown to be arising as a byproduct of

capitalism, nationalism, and a more utilitarian outlook on bureaucratization. In accordance with

the nature of this new class organization, it is represented far less strictly. The treatment of

officers as a cohesive class within the context of the war is the first instance of this.

The main characters, including de Boeldieu (an aristocrat) Marechal (presumably from

the working class), and Rosenthal (born into a wealthy Jewish family), are given equal treatment

within the structures of the first POW camp. Not only was their treatment equal, it was also much

better than that of the non-officers. This is later contrasted with the informal powers that

Rosenthal and de Boeldieu have as members of old and new money, echoing the transition

towards some sense of structural equality that had been occurring at the time.

This theme is further pushed in de Boeldieu's conversation with Rosenthal and Marechal
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in which he says, The pox used to be our privilege, but we've lost it. Like so many others. . . .

We'd each die of our own class diseases, if war didn't make all germs equal.1 Pointing, again, to

the falling place of aristocrats in French society due to the fundamentally different qualities that

nationalist liberal capitalism demands of its elites. This idea is not far removed from our

understanding of the historical trends at the time, supporting the film's use in understanding

history as both a cultural artifact of the interwar period and a reasonably accurate depiction of the

first world war.2

The Film is not without its problems, however. As its point is to cast the social structures humans

had built as the true villain of the story, it presents an overly idealistic narrative that could

reinforce the popular conception of WWI being a useless war. Though, it is possible that the

director is ahead of me on this one, rather than behind. The focus solely on the officers camps is

presented in a way that it could be mistaken to represent the lives of all French POWs rather than

just the privileged few.3

The heart of the film, I believe, comes from its critique of this transition, not it is observation of

it. The aristocrats are presented as having sympathies across national lines. Especially to

Rauffenstein, the division of class is much more important than that of nationality. He and de

Boeldieu both seem to have the same education, taste in food, and taste in women. Their only

sense of nationality a result of the expectations of their class position. Yet, at the same time, de

Boeldieu is collaborating across class lines with Marechal and Rosenthal to help them escape. It

1. Jean Renoir, La Grande Illusion, Film, (1937; New York: Criterion, 1999.),
YouTube
2. Jeremy D Popkin, A History of Modern France 4th ed (New York:
Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2005), 233.
3. John Yarnall, Barbed Wire Disease: British and German Prisoners of War,
1914-19, (Stroud: History Press, 2011) 52-65.
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could be said that he understands how the times have changed and decides to not fight the

current. Instead of favoring the soft power that exists mostly as a relic of the past, he chooses to

act in accords with the new construct.

The most important point about this dichotomy is almost hidden by the conflict itself. The

film spends a majority of its time building up a system which it has been taking shots at though

its entirety. The war, a representation of this new order, is presented as strange, unnatural, even

artificial. One of the starkest commentaries being, You can't see borders, they are human

creations. Nature couldn't care less.4 Pointing, again, to the constructed nature of their major

problem. Looking at it, it seems almost ridiculous that a few hundred feet is the distance between

the same man shooting you or deciding not to.

This ridiculous artificiality is pushed by the fact that scross national lines, characters are able to

show inappropriate amounts of compassion and humanity to another while still following the

rules of the game. The pow camp in the beginning especially looks almost like an idealist's

version of the Stanford prison experiment. The actors seem like people reluctantly thrust into

roles that they, on some level, question deeply. This is brought to fruition when Rosenthal and

Marechal finally do escape. Instead of going back to their side of the war as a good soldier would

they make it to neutral territoryescaping the war itself. Most poignant is how this act was

regarded by the nearby German soldiers. Rather than calling them coward, as a good soldier

would see the situation, he says Good for them.5 insinuating that they are all looking for a way

out of this new structure; one that is no more legitimate than the last.

4. Jean Renoir, La Grande Illusion, Film, (1937; New York: Criterion, 1999.),
YouTube
5. Ibid
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Bibliography

Popkin, Jeremy D. A History of Modern France. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J., New York:

Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2005.

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Renoir, Jean. La Grande Illusion. Film. 1937. New York: Criterion, 1999. YouTube

Yarnall, John. Barbed Wire Disease: British and German Prisoners of War, 1914-19. Stroud:

History Press, 2011.