FILM DETAILS:

• Grand Illusion
• Dir. Jean Renoir, 1937, France, 115 mins
• Starring Jean Gabin

CAST/CHARACTERS

• Jean Gabin as Lieutenant Maréchal, a French officer, of modest social background
• Marcel Dalio as Lieutenant Rosenthal, a French officer, of nouveau riche Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry
• Pierre Fresnay as Captain de Boëldieu, a French staff officer and member of the French nobility
• Erich von Stroheim as Captain (later Major) von Rauffenstein, a German flying ace and member of the German nobility
• Dita Parlo as Elsa, a German farmwife and war widow
• Julien Carette as Cartier, the vaudeville performer
• Gaston Modot as an engineer
• Georges Péclet as an officer
• Werner Florian as Sgt. Arthur
• Jean Dasté as a teacher
• Sylvain Itkine as Lieutenant Demolder
• Jacques Becker as British officer (uncredited)[7][8][9]

Worksheet questions:

1. Who is Lieutenant Maréchal? What does he seem to represent?
2. Who do these French POW’s represent?
3. What is the most memorable scene in the film? What makes it important?
4. What are the values of the film? What is its message?