A classic of French pre-War cinema, Carnival in Flanders by the great Jacques Feyder is the most devious and cruel satire you might ever come across. Set in early 17th-century Flanders, which had previously been under Spanish rule, the story opens with shots of a busy village preparing for the yearly carnival, when the news break that the Spanish Duke Olivares and his troops plan to stay in town. At the prospect of looting and raping militia men, the flabby mayor of the well-to-do provincial nest called Boom volunteers, as he puts it, "to sacrifice" himself: his plan to pretend he has just passed away, thus hoping to convince Olivares to bypass the mourning town, is eagerly adopted by his timorous menfolk. But while the males go about staging the mock funeral, the women, led by the mayor's energetic wife, take over the action and, in turn, decide to "sacrifice" themselves to the soldiers. What follows is a grand tale of sexual libertinage and deception with a "happy end" of sorts where virtually no-one is redeemed. (The original title, La Kermesse héroïque, literally The Heroic Fête, operates in much the same way as Milos Forman's early satirical masterpiece, The Fireman's Ball, 1967, and the parallels are numerous; no doubt Forman had taken a second look at Feyder's Kermesse during his studies.) What immediately strikes one today is Feyder's directness in exposing his characters' human flaws, which is hardly subdued by the general satirical tone. The way adultery, homosexuality and eroticism but also greed, cowardice and deceit are depicted leaves one speechless at times, and certainly wondering how political correctness and all sorts of profit policies and conservatisms have infested modern-day cinema to a point it would no longer dare think to produce anything like this. Not to speak of the 1930s Hollywood counterparts, for which Feyder would have been light years off the mark, proving the point that there was and still is such a thing as the "French cultural exception". Apart from the latent debauchery creeping out into the open from the cozy interiors of a model town, the film also has multiple strings of side puns that keep its pace up at all times from spot-on character studies (the mayor, the artist, the butcher...) to hysterical history sidekicks (using a fork for the first time, Spaniards wondering what "beer" is, impious remarks on Dutch painting...). Most strikingly, it is a hallucinatory mockery of the Dutch and their supposed idiosyncrasies: avarice, Protestant pragmatism, self-righteous "middle-class" rule, bogus worldliness, you name it. This goes to such an extent that it has been repeatedly claimed that Feyder had intended an allegory of the Dutch's collaboration with the German occupier in WWI and from today's perspective, one is tempted to grant it visionary power as well, since substantial parts of the Flamish-speaking population of Belgium were eager supporters of Nazi rule. This assumption makes sense once you've witnessed the cold-blooded irreverence and unmasked sarcasm Feyder uses to unmask his species, which is surpassed only (in literature) by the untouchable Molière. Clearly, all formal issues had to serve this main objective the Vaudeville acting, the picturesque film set, the matter-of-fact filming, and not least the purpose-built dialogues. So, although you should not expect a formidably audacious experiment in film-making, you will be treated a deliciously immoral chamber piece on sexual banter and other not so politically correct behaviour. Released in 1935, it is also a cruel reminder of how conservative the world and its cultural output has become as of late.
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erniemunger8 December 2005
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writers_reign29 June 2005After sixty years what is still most striking about this film are the evocations of Flemish Art from the opening scene in a market place crowded with Brueghel figurines to the subsequent groupings of the good burghers of Boom in the style of Rembrandt and the Rubenesque womenfolk. Charles Spaak turned in his usual reliable script and Jacques Feyder filmed it more than competently with his wife, Francoise Rosay in a key role. Louis Jouvet is the class act, not unusually but the plot is a little creaky - it failed as a Musical on Broadway in the early fifties where it played under the title Carnival In Flanders and left in its wake an enduring standard 'Here's That Rainy Day'. Certainly worth another look.
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AlsExGal29 October 2020...because of the American production code. In early-17th century Flanders, at the town of Boom, a Spanish duke (Jean Murat) and his advisors are due to stop over for the night. The townsfolk panic, as they believe the "savage Spaniards" will rape and pillage their small village. So the burgomaster (Andre Alerme) and his sharp-witted wife (Francoise Rosay) devise a plan wherein many of the menfolk will pretend to be dead and the "widows" will be accommodating to the visitors. The plan works, only too well, as the women find the Spanish visitors virile and attractive in comparison to their fat and lazy husbands.
This is a fun, bawdy, lighthearted historical fiction that doesn't skimp on period detail. The costumes are elaborate and fascinating, from the corsets to the giant frilled collars to the over-sized pants. The performers are entertaining, especially the ladies, playing a range of flustered flirtation and nervous excitement. There are sly comments about the church of the time, and the hedonistic impulses of even the most chaste. Marcel Carne was one of the assistant directors. -
dbdumonteil24 July 2008"La Kermesse Heroique" is looked upon,in France ,as Jacques Feyder's apex as well as the beginning of his decline .
This is a colorful entertaining work,with wonderful settings ,costumes,actors ,folk songs and scenes inspired by the Flemish art (the mayoress' daughter is in love with a painter ,Jean Brueghel.) The director's wife,Françoise Rosay (who was also featured in the two previous works "Le Grand Jeu" and "Pension Mimosas " and would be the star of the next work "Les Gens Du Voyage" ) finds here the role of a lifetime : the mayoress character was probably inspired by the strong wives or servants we find in Molière's plays (Madame Jourdain,Toinette).Rosay has the first part of the movie for herself ,but she shares the acting honors with Louis Jouvet's mischievous part of the chaplain;an opportunity for Spaak to laugh at religion;during the banquet ,the nice innocent young ladies ask the ecclesiastic to tell them a tale of the Holy Office :the clergyman tells them the tale of a virgin whose body was covered with honey and licked by a he-goat,the guests have a wonderful time!And when the holy man ,leaving the town,is given chocolate by an inhabitant:he smiled, he thanks and gives her ,as a bonus, some indulgences!I hope she was not protestant.
In this Flemish town,where people are gathering for the fair ,men are cowards :as soon the coming of the Spaniards is announced,they hide their money ("superior significance women cannot understand" ),or they pretend that they are dead (the mayor).A false flash-forward depicts the cruelty of the invaders.
Not only the occupying forces treat the woman as ladies ,but they show romanticism - the mayoress dreaming of Italy, the chaplain marrying "Romeo" to "Juliet" - and a sense of humor -the duke has obviously guessed that the mayoress is not a widow.
Today,Feyder is eclipsed by Renoir ,Carné -who was here his assistant again ,after "Pension Mimosas" - or Duvivier;he seems to enjoy a good reputation abroad though;"Kermesse" and the two other works I mention above are essential viewing for anyone interested in the French cinema. -
spompermayer29 October 2005"Carnival in Flanders"
This a clever, charming film that depicts the womenfolk of a Flemish village winning over Spanish invaders. The mayor's wife rallies the women to use all their power and resources to seduce the Spaniards--and it works!
There are some very funny moments involving the vigil for the "deceased" mayor (especially when the court midget blackmails him). Most films about the 17th Century are pretty stodgy, but "Carnival" is delight.
I recommend this film. -
The mayor of a small town in Flanders is thrown into panic when he hears that the Spanish are coming to occupy the town. he decides to pretend to be dead, leaving his wife and the other ladies of the town to cope with the Spanish invasion. The mayoress rallies the ladies, and reassures them that they will be more than a march for the Spaniards.
This is an enchanting period comedy, full of lovely details of everyday life, and with many hilarious moments as the ladies of Flanders meet the gentlemen of Spain. the charming flirtation that develops between the mayoress and the leader of the Spanish troops is particularly well done. and there's a delightful scene where one of the gentlemen of Flanders and one of the Spaniards find they have a mutual enthusiasm for needlework. An unusual and very amusing film, pure enjoyment from beginning to end. -
A fun and charming film, but pretty forgettable. I watched it as the first part of a double feature (the second film being Mildred Pierce), and I hardly remember a thing about it. The story concerns the people of Flanders who have to deal with a Spanish invasion (the year is 1616). They are peaceful people and the Spanish are not. The mayor and other regents of the city are sure that there will be rape and bloodshed everywhere. Most of them want to flee. The mayor's wife and the other women don't like their husbands' cowardice. They try to think of a way to avoid violence. When the Spanish arrive, the men are mostly hiding and the mayor is playing dead. The women charm them. The Duke of the Spaniards is attracted to the mayor's wife. Meanwhile, there's a cute little love subplot between an artist and the mayor's daughter. Her father wants her to marry a man of higher class, but her mother perfectly loves the romantic artist. Through the film, she contrives a way for the two to get married without the mayor's approval. There are many better films to search out and watch, but if you think you've seen everything else, I guess this is okay to see. 7/10.
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planktonrules10 February 2013I enjoyed this film very much--partly because of its clever writing and partly because it shows a period you just don't see in films very often. It's well worth your time.
"Carnival in Flanders" is set in the 16th century--during the time that Flanders (modern Belgium) was ruled by Spain. It is set in a fictional town in Flanders--and apparently some thin-skinned Belgians during the 1930s wanted to ban the picture because they thought it made them look bad. That's silly--it's just a cute little comedy! The film begins with some minor intrigues in town--including a painter wishing to marry the daughter of the Burgomeister (that's a mayor for us Yanks). However, suddenly, this is unimportant--what IS important is that the Spanish army will be passing through and the town council KNOW this means they'll sack the town. So, they come up with a crazy plan--to pretend that the Burgomeister is dead. This really won't help anyone--just the Burgomeister! So it's up to the man's wife and the women of the town to deal with these invaders. However, they are shocked to see that the Spanish are incredibly polite--and kind of cute!! What's next? See the film.
I found myself laughing several times during this movie--a very good sign for a comedy. I particularly liked the needlepoint scene! All in all, very entertaining, funny and exceptionally well made--they got the look of 16th century Flanders down pat. A wonderful little comedy that deserves to be seen. -
rmax30482310 September 2012It's the Flemish town of Boom in the 17th century and the conquering Spanish army is going to spend the night in the village, preceded by rumors of pillaging, barbarity, rapine, torture, infanticide, and smoking in public.
The men of the town are mostly plump burghers and they're terrified. The women, led by the Burgomaster's wife (Rosay), decide that instead of being sullen and acting scared they'll welcome the Spaniards and perhaps mollify them by being accommodating. It works.
The first impression a view is likely to get is that this is some sort of animated cartoon full of elaborately (and sometimes definitely weirdly) costumed men and women dashing around excitedly and shouting at one another in French.
My impression didn't change all that much, though I waited patiently for something more outrageous than a stout man rolling helplessly down a flight of stairs -- we can get that in Laurel and Hardy -- and a suggestion of cuckolding.
The costumes arrest the attention. They're absurd and they're dwelled on too. Rips are sewn up and women worry whether their mourning clothes are still in fashion. The Spanish lieutenant is gay and given to needlepoint or whatever it is -- and he knows all about it. There's a dwarf who loves his two pet monkeys and has to sit on a few volumes of Erasmus ("A pain in the a**") in order to reach the dinner table. There is a priest who extorts money from the dwarf and accepts gifts by passing out indulgences, which are absolution for sins yet to be committed. The priest gets drunk. There is a painter, Jan Breughel the younger, whose work is now valuable but considered imitative -- as one of the Spaniards remarks.
All in all, everybody sings and dances and has a good old time except the men of the village, who are mostly in hiding, less those who run the inn and are making scads of dough. Oh, and the viewer's enjoyment is moderate, like that of the only sober person at the party. -
raskimono8 November 2005This just might e the smartest black comedy (that is a matter of opinion ever made) right up there with Reoir's The Rules of the Game. A female empowerment movie, in a way it reminds one of the movie adaptation of "The Women" with bigger ideas on its mind. Made in 1935, and hailed by all critics as one of the greatest movies ever made, a position it would hold through the fifties, it is a deceptive little tale about the cowardice of men and the bravery of women. The last time the French came through, the little town of Flanders was rampaged ad plundered. News comes again that they are coming through, and the men panic, quiver and run for cover. It is the women who think up the plan to save the city As, I said smile, but very funny with the undercurrent of male an female dynamics underlining every line, phrase and action in this treat. To sum it up, it can be said that the old adage, "Behind every great man is a great woman" a perceptive and illuminating proper edifice.
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spotted-owl13 September 2012"Carnival in Flanders" (1935) is both an elaborate historic period film, and a clever comedy. The costumes and sets were inspired by Flemish Renaissance paintings.
Set in the year 1616, the Spanish army plans to invade the Flemish town of Boom. Most of the men hide. However, the women of Boom, led by the burgomaster's wife Cornelia, protect their village by using their feminine charm and hospitality. Cornelia invites the handsome Spanish duke and his officers to a fancy banquet at the burgomaster's house. There is also a festival with music, song and folk dance at the local inn for the soldiers. The dialog is witty and clever.
There is a subplot of a romance between the burgomaster's daughter Siska, and her painter boyfriend. Her boyfriend is Jan Brueghel the Younger, who was an actual Flemish painter.
The costumes and sets reflect the art of various Flemish Renaissance painters. Each scene in the film looks like a Flemish painting. The scenes are similar to the paintings of Jan Brueghel the Elder, Jan Brueghel the Younger, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Frans Hals, Jacob Jordaens, Johannes Vermeer, and other artists.
The village of Boom is very picturesque, with a canal, windmills and historic buildings with towers. There are some lovely scenes of boats on the canal in the moonlight.
The costumes are extravagant. The wealthy men and women wear black clothes with large white ruffs around the neck. The peasant women wear native folk dress with caps.
The film has a cast of hundreds. In one scene, the women of Boom graciously welcome the Spanish army, who arrive on horseback in a long procession. The army is led by drummers, and the soldiers wear gleaming armor.
This is a witty, artistic film. It won numerous awards. I hope a DVD is released soon. -
Rheli5 June 2004The women hold a big banquet and all of the Spanish officers are invited. However, one of them is not interested and prefers to stay indoors and do his needlepoint. One of the village men is also not interested so the officer invites him to bring out his knitting. They discuss what kind of stitches to use and the officer opines that a particular stitch feels nicer on the leg.
The scene is perfectly innocent, but how interesting that already in 1935 they had the idea that maybe not all of the soldiers wanted to be seduced by women! And they actually dared to put the scene in! :)
The question of just what the Mayoress has done with the Duke is left unsaid, but probably also would never have passed the Hays Office in Hollywood. -
brogmiller27 February 2022Based upon a novel by Charles Spaak this could be seen as a variation on the theme of 'Lysistrata' by Aristophanes, in which the women of Athens and Sparta deny their partners any sex until peace has been restored.
In Jacques Feyder's masterpiece from the Golden Age of French cinema the women of a Flemish town decide to bestow their favours on the occupying Spanish soldiers so as to avoid bloodshed. It must be said that once they have set eyes on their swarthy conquerers they do not require much persuasion and set about their task with relish.
It was this aspect in particular that caused so much outrage in certain quarters as it was seen to deride heroic resistance and to favour collaboration. Once war had broken out Goebbels had the film banned whilst the director and his actress wife Francoise Rosay were obliged to leave France to avoid the unwelcome attentions of the Gestapo.
Feyder responded to criticism by saying that his intention was to celebrate the glories of his country's art from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries. He has certainly succeeded in this as he and his team have us enabled to step into the world of Hals and Vermeer.
Under the supervision of legendary art director Georges Wahkévitch an entire town was meticulously constructed in a Paris suburb, using cement, real steel and plaster instead of the usual papier maché and cardboard. This, together with the cinematography of Harry Stradling, costume design of Georges K. Benda and luscious score by Louis Beydts all combine to give us a film that is in itself a work of art.
It would be well nigh impossible to assemble a cast of this quality now. The role of the Burgermaster's wife is probably the magnificent Francoise Rosay's most iconic. She is complemented by André Alerme's pompous and pusillanimous husband and the highly civilised Spanish nobleman of Jean Murat. In an early role Louis Jouvet effortlessly steals his scenes as a worldly monk. Every character is beautifully drawn and special mention must be made of Alfred Adam as the butcher and Lyne Clevers as the fish-wife.
Following the rather sombre 'Pension Mimosas', Feyder felt the need to do something lighter and this mock-heroic farce is indisputably his greatest achievement. He once described himself as 'an artisan working in an industry.' In this he was being unduly modest. -
"Men are cowardly lions and women are cunning minxes," is how film critic Jamie Russell describes the theme in Jacques Feyder's December 1935 classic, "Carnival in Flanders." The film's core plot had struck a sensitive nerve with the male members of theater audiences while women rejoiced at what they felt was so obvious. The French film is one of the earliest movies to demonstrate the superiority of a group of women over men when it comes down to saving an entire community from wholesale ruination.
French director Feyder is largely unknown to today's cinephiles, partly because World War Two disrupted an upward trajectory in his film career and had died three years after its conclusion. His contemporary, Rene Clair, lamented "Jacques Feyder does not occupy today the place his work and his example should have earned him." The Belgian actor turned scriptwriter and director was in the forefront of silent movies' poetic realism movement as early as 1916, creating such standouts as 1926 "Carmen" before receiving an invite from MGM to direct Greta Garbo's final silent, 1929's "The Kiss." After four years in Hollywood where Feyder was relegated to directing French versions of English-language releases, he returned to Europe where his most popular and highly-regarded film was "Carnival in Flanders," a work he's most known for.
After directing the somber 1935 dramatic film 1935's 'Pension Mimosas,' Feyder wanted a change in pace in tackling a light-hearted subject. His regular scriptwriter, Charles Spaak, suggested a story from 17th century Flanders under Spanish occupation. Excited with the prospect, Feyder proposed framing his farce in the aura of classical Flemish painters' art so revered in his native Belgium. Writer Spaak fulfilled his request, showing how the pompous male city officials wilted at the first sight of a Spanish official with his army arriving in the city to spend the evening. With imaginary visions of rape and pillage, the mayor and his council members feigned death upon the Spaniards' arrival. The women, however, found the men's strategy ridiculous. Since the city happened to be celebrating a carnival, they welcomed the army with open arms, melting the Spanish soldiers' hearts instantaneously.
"Farce can be incredibly painful," writes film reviewer Mark Frost, "but 'Carnival in Flanders' handles the comedic situations with finesse-with many laughs-out-loud moments." The international film community embraced Feyder's film, earning a handful of prestigious honors, including the New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. But filmgoers in Feyder's native country were incensed by his motion picture. Fist fights broke out in movie houses showing 'Carnival in Flanders" across Antwerp and Ghent, with the city of Bruges outright banning the film. Viewers drew parallels of its plot with the Belgians' acceptance of German soldiers in their cities and towns during World War One. Simultaneously released in both French and German languages, Berliners applauded its message. Ironically, when Germany kicked off World War Two in 1939, the head of the Nazi propaganda office, Joseph Goebbels, prohibited "Carnival in Flanders" from being shown. Reportedly he was sensitive to the comparisons between the Reich's soldiers occupying foreign cities with those seen in 1600's Flanders. Feyder became a pariah to the Nazis when they overran France in 1940, forcing the director to flee to Switzerland for the duration of the war. -
HughRed6 April 2009"Julien Breughel" is called "Jean Brueghel" in other reports of the film. I think that he must be Jan Brueghel the Younger. That real-life painter was the son of Jan Brueghel the Elder. He would have turned 15 in the year the film was set. The Duke mentions Jan's father's painting to Jan.
Jan lived in Antwerp at this time, I think. Boom seems to be a Flemish town close to Antwerp.
The Dutch (at least in Holland) were neutral and not invaded during the First World War. So erniemunger's comment about Dutch collaboration during that war seems wrong. Belgium was neutral until it was invaded. Perhaps the commenter meant "Flemings" when he said "Dutch" (I know nothing about any such collaboration: I'm not making an accusation). -
Barbouzes21 January 2020A black &white feat for the eyes. Period costumes: astonishing. Depiction of life in a 16th century small Flemish town: a visual treat worthy of a Flemish painting.Comic timing: perfect. The plot is delightfully devious, the characters are priceless. and the actors are wonderful. The theme behind that wicked story is universal (and apparently irked a lot of people in the late 1930 when that movie was made.) The story told by this film is no fairy tale, but its treatment by the director and script writers is a scrumptious beignet. A delight.