"Only one thing matters to me - what I create. And what do I create? You! Her!"
So says dancehall proprietor and showman Danglard (Jean Gabin) as he delivers a rebuke/pep talk to his top dancer Nini, which simultaneously saddens her and reignites her desire to dance. Flanked by the dancers he has groomed, he is the artist as dictator, taking the raw talent of others and molding it to his specific vision. He also might very well be speaking for writer-director Jean Renoir, who dreamed "of a craftsman's cinema in which the author can express himself as directly as the painter in his paintings or the writer in his books." The son of the painter Auguste Renoir, he made some of cinema's greatest works in prewar Europe before taking his skills to America where his films debuted to mixed reviews. Facing limitations while trusting his own talents - and having experience with the Impressionist aesthetic - Renoir was uniquely suited to this film.
Danglard is a fascinating character, seemingly entranced by dance while exacting enough to know every step being performed (As Peter Bogdanovich points out in one of the Criterion Collection edition's special features, while Nini's show premieres to a rapt audience, Danglard is not side stage. Instead, he's sitting backstage, hearing the music and tapping out the steps in time with the unseen dancers). Danglard is certainly not a lover ("You want to put me in a cage like a canary? I warn you, it won't last long.") and he's not a Prince Charming out to rescue unfortunate girls. In Gabin's performance which is by turns comedic and cruel, we see Danglard the consummate entertainer.
Beautiful though the film may be, it eschews Hollywood sentimentality. And so, there is not a Danglard-Nini close-up embrace at the end of the film. Instead, we see Danglard offering a stern reprimand to Nini, shouting "In the end, you think it matters what you and I want? All that counts is what they want. We're at the service of the public. You know why it breaks my heart to see you go? They can smash the place to pieces for all I care! But the profession's losing a good trouper. I thought you were one of us. If not, get out! " But, despite the hurt Danglard has caused her, Nini realizes that - like Danglard and Lola - her true love is dance. She soldiers on with Lola's support, the dancers perform a mighty cancan, and the Moulin Rouge erupts with applause.
This review fails to mention many of the small delights of the film, from Danglard telling a homeless woman "vanity will be your downfall" to the thoughts of the working class representatives who offer their opinions on Nini and various events in the film.
Crew & Cast
Directed by Jean Renoir (La Grande Illusion, La Bete Humaine, The Rules of the Game)
Written by Jean Renoir from an idea by André-Paul Antoine
Cast
Jean Gabin - Henri Danglard
Francoise Arnoul - Nini
Maria Félix - Lola de Castro de la Fuente de Espramadura
Anna Amendola - Esther Georges
Jean-Roger Caussimon - Baron Walter