In one of the dark rooms of the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, a little shiver ran through us on Friday when we heard the instantly recognizable voice of Jean-Louis Trintignant. In fact, just before his death two years ago, the immense actor recorded the narration of what would be his final project: the animated film The most valuable commodity, adaptation by Michel Hazanavicius of the work of Jean-Claude Grumberg, selected in official competition. With this tale in which a woman collects a baby thrown from a train bound for Auschwitz, the director of the pastiche OSS 117, Cairo nest of spiessatire Cut! and the five-Oscar-winning romantic comedy The Artist (The artist) changes register. And technique.
For the record, Jean-Claude Grumberg has been, since adolescence, a close friend of Michel Hazanavicius’ parents.
Best known as a playwright, Grumberg lost his father and grandparents during the Second World War after they were arrested during the Roundup and then deported to Auschwitz. He himself survived by being hidden at the Moissac Children’s Home.
Published in 2019, The most precious of goods. A tale relates the fate of a woman (voice of Dominique Blanc) who lives isolated in the forest with her lumberjack husband. The couple is poor and childless: we will only know the spouses under the names “Poor woodcutter” and “Poor woodcutter” (voice of Grégory Gadebois, replacing Gérard Depardieu). The film faithfully adopts this bias.
Every day, the woman goes to the edge of the forest to watch the trains go by and pray that some food or merchandise, hence the title, will fall. She is unaware that these are in reality convoys of Jewish people deported to the concentration camp which was erected further away.
One day, the woman who, unlike her husband, has always longed for a child, is surprised to find a baby in the snow, near the railway tracks. The baby, a girl, was thrown off the train by her father, in the hope that someone would save her. Which happens, thanks to Poor Lumberjack. However, the latter must deal with Poor Lumberjack’s anti-Semitism towards the little girl. But the woman persists. And slowly, the man becomes attached. In doing so, he frees himself from his prejudices. Alas, not everyone in the surrounding area is like him…
There are thus several messages and lessons in the story, which maintains a simple narration and developments, specific to the tale. This, in contrast to the dense ambient darkness, especially during the asides at Auschwitz, where we witness in fragments the slow ordeal of the father.
Plastic success
First a graduate of Fine Arts, Michel Hazanavicius himself drew the sketches of the characters before the animation process. Before designing his technical layout, the filmmaker carried out a two-week shoot in the studio, with real actors and sets, in order to establish frames and movements.
The result, which exudes an austere poetry, is a certain plastic success. The numerous sequences in the snowy forest, with a veil of mist or snowflakes, are splendid. Visually, the film has a minimalist realism, a simplicity that suits the subject well. As for the thick outlines of the characters, this gives them the appearance of old animated engravings.
The narrative construction is, however, less convincing. The connection between the main plot, the tribulations of Poor Woodcutter and his adopted daughter, and the passages in the concentration camp, with the father and his tragic companions, occasionally lacks organicity.
Individually, however, the said passages at Auschwitz are striking, taking on the appearance of an Edvard Munch nightmare.
Too fragmented, the outcome deprives the film of the expected apotheosis. It prevents, The most valuable commodity is one of those films that sheds a little light in the darkness. And then, what emotion to hear beyond the tomb Jean-Louis Trintignant say these words: “Once upon a time…”
If it were up to me…
François Lévesque is in Cannes at the invitation of the Festival and thanks to the support of Telefilm Canada.