Bernard-Deschamps made a few silent movies and only four talkies:"Le Rosier De Madame Husson " from Maupassant -with an ending not faithful to the novel -, " Monsieur Coccinelle " "La Marmaille" and "Tempête". Both " Monsieur Coccinelle " and "La Marmaille" do not deserve to be neglected and indicate that this director had latent resources which were not fully exploited.
"La Marmaille" is a hymn to the family with a capital F:a reconstituted family ,the family in jeopardy, the reconstruction ,then the children who leaves the nest to live their own life .
THE CHILDREN: François Bouton ,a widower,has a daughter ,Ninette,Angélique has a son, Papin .The woman is selfish ,she sends her brat in the stairs where he is afraid (because one of his pals told him ghosts existed and passed through the walls ,and he already lost his dad), but François is meek and mild and his desire is to reconstitute a family .This part contains excellent relevant scenes:
-the newlyweds,quarreling about their own child's education, the brood (that's the title of the film)involuntarily soothing them as they are fast asleep in the same bed.
-the wedding with the banquet in the Guinguettes by the Seine banks (cafe -restaurant with dance floor); the song the bride sings (actress Florelle was primarily a singer ,so it's only natural she performs a song to entertain the guests) is cheerful and gay but it depicts the frivolous side of love.The children, emptying the glasses of wine while the guests are dancing.
-The "Punch and Judy " show ("Guignol" ) ,which sets poor François thinking and reminds him of the old proverb "when the cat is away,the mice will play".
-The game when the wife cheats in cards and cheats on her unfortunate hubby at the same time.
-Papin,left by his shameless mum to his own devices,starving ,trying to pinch a cherry from the mouthwatering cake .
THE GROWN -UPS:about ten years later....
Now the girl,Ninette has grown into a pretty educated young girl who wants to leave for Asia with her darling,a scientist.Her father and her stepbrother -who secretly loves her- realize that Ninette and them are worlds apart now:" she is a chic girl,I'm only a cabinet-maker,a working man.
François has only his stepson to keep him company ;but the young man is soon drafted ,and ,using a punishment as an excuse ,he won't spend his furlough with his father ;he actually wants to stay with his new girlfriend.
François ,who gave all, is finally on his own on Christmas night.He tries to invite the soldier who has brought him his son's message ,but he has his own family to see; when you have not got a family on Christmas night, it's more than a man to whom family is everything can take .The old man begins to wander aimlessly in the streets where everybody is concerned by their Christmas Eve Supper and their gifts.Against all odds , family will triumph again ,as the lonely man plays the occasional father Christmas.
Pierre Larquey is wonderful as the "Bonhomme Bouton" .Bernard- Deschamps does not even use the old trick of melodrama:the woman in the subway is not the prodigal mother.Thus this is a deeply moving work,without the Petainist ideology which would weaken so many works dealing with family in the occupation days.
2 out of 2 found this helpful