La Maison des bois (7 épisodes)
Maurice Pialat
The seven episodes of this soap opera constitute an account of life near the front lines during the First World War. It blends the daily life of Hervé, an orphan adopted by Jeanne and Albert, a couple of forest rangers, with the lives of many secondary characters: the marquis, the church caretaker, the ladies Pouilly and Latour, the teacher, the postman, the aviator and his wife...
With : Pierre Doris, Jacqueline Dufranne, Agathe Nathanson, Henri Puff, Hervé Lévy, Michel Tarrazon, Fernand Gravey, Henri Saulquin, Marie-Christine Boulard, Micha Bayard, Maurice Pialat
Screenplay : René Wheeler, Maurice Pialat, Arlette Langmann, Yves Laumet
Image : Roger Duculot
Sound : Norbert Gernolle
Music : Maurice Ravel, Jean-Sébastien Bach, Montehus-Georges Krier, Henri Duparc, Ludwig von Beethoven
Editing : Arlette Langmann, Martine Giordano
Decors : Isabel Lapierre
Screenplay : René Wheeler, Maurice Pialat, Arlette Langmann, Yves Laumet
Image : Roger Duculot
Sound : Norbert Gernolle
Music : Maurice Ravel, Jean-Sébastien Bach, Montehus-Georges Krier, Henri Duparc, Ludwig von Beethoven
Editing : Arlette Langmann, Martine Giordano
Decors : Isabel Lapierre
Production : ORTF, Son et Lumière
"If I had to choose the one film that best allows the viewer to penetrate into Maurice Pialat's universe, I would unhesitatingly choose La Maison des Bois. This series happily combines a profound naturalism and strange sense of fantasy, a liberty in its tone where hidden or manifested suffering alternates with an astonishing happiness to be alive. In this film we find the seeds of most of Pialat's great themes, his tone and especially the manner in which he would like to direct his story and his films – like a wandering exploration." (J. Magny) "La Maison des Bois was a requisition, but I rewrote the script... (...) Besides, I only understood much later why I had worked on the project: solely for two scenes in the fiftieth episode, when the mother learns of her son's death." (M. Pialat)