If American war films are characterized by large-scale combat and appeals to valor, French war cinema is arguably more intimate and psychologically driven, focusing on the ways personal dynamics are affected, and corrupted, by the shadow of violence.
From Tuesday through Thursday, March 19-21, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will present three iconic films as part of its France at War Film Series.
Held in conjunction with the exhibition Georges Braque and the Cubist Still Life, 1928-1945, the festival will open with Jean Renoir’s 1939 La Règle du Jeu (The Rules of the Game), a scathing social critique disguised as an aristocratic comedy of manners.
The festival will continue the following evening with Marcel Carné’s Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise) (1945). Widely considered among the greatest of French films, Les Enfants is set in the 1840s but was filmed during the Nazi occupation and included members of the Resistance among its 1,800 extras.
Concluding the festival, on March 21, will be Louis Malle’s Au Revoir les Enfants (Goodbye, Children). Released in 1987, this haunting autobiographical tale centers on the friendship of two boys, one of whom is Jewish, at a Catholic boarding school in 1944.
All three screenings are free and open to the public and begin at 7 p.m. at the Tivoli Theatre, 6350 Delmar Blvd.
In addition, a selection of short films created as part of the Kemper Braque Film Challenge will be screened each night.
Georges Braque and the Cubist Still Life, 1928-1945 remains on view through April 21. The Kemper Art Museum is located near the intersection of Skinker and Forsyth boulevards. Regular hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays; and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The museum is closed Tuesdays.
For more information about the film festival or the exhibition, call (314) 935-4523 or visit kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu.