Analyse technique

      The shot begins with a pan upwards while we hear a flute playing the music of “There once was a little boat.” The pan stops in a low-angle shot of Boëldieu who is quickly caught in a spotlight showing him playing a flute on the outside steps leading to the guards’ walkway at the top of the ramparts. Cut. Near shot of Rauffenstein looking up toward Boëldieu. Cut. Near shot of Boëldieu playing the flute. Cut. Long shot of Boëldieu sitting on the railing; he dismounts and looks down at the crowd below. Cut. The German soldiers try to control the crowd of prisoners in the courtyard. Cut. Near shot of Maréchal who backs into the crowd and disappears. Cut. Very long shot: the guards come running down the stairs while Rauffenstein walks up slowly, alone. Cut. Long shot of Boëldieu as he continues to move up the outside steps, playing the same tune. Cut. Guards run through the courtyard. Cut. Guards run up the outside steps. Cut. Boëldieu runs up ahead of them, followed by a pan, stops a moment to let the spotlight catch up to him, then takes off again. Cut. The guards continue running up the steps. Cut. Medium shot of Maréchal and Rosenthal preparing to go out the window.

Commentary

      The style of the escape sequence is the exact opposite of the sequence shots that Renoir favors. Since he wishes to emphasize here the rapidity and tenseness of the action, as well as the opposition between the Germans and the French, Renoir uses relatively short shots and cut editing. While a Renoir sequence shot is usually designed to suggest the unity of the characters (in space and time), the abrupt cuts emphasize on the contrary the adversarial relationship between the French and the Germans. The proliferation of short near shots, accompanied by dramatic quick tempo music, helps to create the intense, tumultuous atmosphere of the escape scenario put into motion by the prisoners.

The “role” played by Boëldieu in this scenario recalls ironically his refusal to participate in the show put on by the prisoners in the Hallbach camp. It wasn’t an activity for aristocrats. Here, on the contrary, Boëldieu is clearly involved in theatrics, a fact which is emphasized by his musical performance, as by the spotlights and his position “on stage,” elevated above the spectators. Boëldieu’s change of heart is also suggested by the instrument he is playing: the flute resembles the fife, a people’s instrument that Boëldieu disdained in the earlier episode at Hallbach. In addition, the tune that he is playing, “There once was a little boat,” is a popular little ditty. All of these elements help us to understand that the aristocratic officer is sacrificing himself to facilitate the escape of his commoner friends — just like the European nobility (the former social elite) eventually yielded, albeit not so graciously, to the middle classes (Rosenthal) and the working classes (Maréchal) in modern times.