Crainquebille
Encyclopedia
Crainquebille is a 1922 French silent drama film directed by Jacques Feyder
. The film is known for its realism
.
Jérôme Crainquebille , is an ageing modest vegetable seller who has sold groceries from his cart in Halles
market in Paris
for over 40 years. One day, whilst waiting for a customer to give him his change, he is hassled by a policeman who insists that he moves on. When he protests, Crainquebille is arrested, supposedly for swearing at the policeman. Following a farcical trial, the old man is sent to jail, where due to the poor quality of his past life he enjoys the benefits of the free shelter and food.
However on his release his life continues to nose dive; all of his past regular customers shun him, and, with no income, he turns to the bottle becoming an alcoholic. He is reduced to a tramp that everybody loathes, and the sad old man is about to commit suicide
when a young street boy takes him by the hand to forget about the past and persuades him to make a fresh start.
Jacques Feyder
Jacques Feyder was a Belgian actor, screenwriter and film director who worked principally in France, but also in the USA, Britain and Germany. He was a leading director of silent films during the 1920s, and in the 1930s he became associated with the style of poetic realism in French cinema...
. The film is known for its realism
Realism (arts)
Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...
.
Plot
Les Halles
Les Halles is an area of Paris, France, located in the 1er arrondissement, just south of the fashionable rue Montorgueil. It is named for the large central wholesale marketplace, which was demolished in 1971, to be replaced with an underground modern shopping precinct, the Forum des Halles...
market in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
for over 40 years. One day, whilst waiting for a customer to give him his change, he is hassled by a policeman who insists that he moves on. When he protests, Crainquebille is arrested, supposedly for swearing at the policeman. Following a farcical trial, the old man is sent to jail, where due to the poor quality of his past life he enjoys the benefits of the free shelter and food.
However on his release his life continues to nose dive; all of his past regular customers shun him, and, with no income, he turns to the bottle becoming an alcoholic. He is reduced to a tramp that everybody loathes, and the sad old man is about to commit suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
when a young street boy takes him by the hand to forget about the past and persuades him to make a fresh start.
Cast
- Maurice de FéraudyMaurice de FéraudyMaurice de Féraudy was a French songwriter and actor at the Comédie-Française.He joined the Théâtre Français in 1880, the company in 1887, and became dean in 1929...
as Jérôme Crainquebille - Félix Oudart as L'agent 64
- Jean ForestJean ForestJean Beatrice Forest, OC is a retired Canadian Senator.Born in Minitonas, Manitoba, she moved to Alberta with her husband Rocky in 1947. She was appointed to Alberta's first Human Rights Commission in 1974 and to the Minister's Advisory Committee on the constitution in 1978...
as La Souris - Marguerite Carré as Mme Laure
- Jeanne Cheirel as Mme Bayard
- René WormsRené WormsRené Worms was a French auditor of the council of state, son of professor of political economics Émile Worms....
as M. Lemerle - Charles Mosnier
- Armand Numès
- Françoise RosayFrançoise RosayFrançoise Rosay was a French opera singer, diseuse, and actress who enjoyed a film career of over sixty years and who became a legendary figure in French cinema...