Under the Roofs of Paris (1930)

 Rene Clair's "Under the Roofs of Paris"

With the introduction of sound in 1927 with the U.S. production of "The Jazz Singer," many global filmmakers were concerned about the incoming change to the artistic form. One filmmaker, France's Rene Clair, was particularly skeptical. He was even quoted as saying that talking pictures were "a redoubtable monster, an unnatural creation, thanks to which the screen would become poor theater, the theater of the poor." Despite these objections, it was actually Clair would usher in a new era in French talking pictures, specifically with "Under the Roofs of Paris."

"Under the Roofs of Paris" was marketed as "100% talking and singing in French." This, however, was not entirely true, as much of the film is still treated as a silent picture. Over three quarters of the film has only visual action, while the remaining quarter includes audible dialogue. This, of course, was due to the complications with sound productions in 1930. But it was thanks to German film company Tobis Klangfilm that Clair was able to produce one of the first French-originated sound films. Typically, the only sound films distributed in France were shot-for-shot remakes of German films. 

The film centers on a working-class district of Paris. A poor street singer named Albert falls in love with a woman, Pola, who is trying to escape her gangster boyfriend. Albert allows Pola to stay the night in his apartment. She continues to reject his advances, even his more aggressive ones. After developing a romance, Albert is arrested for a theft he did not commit. Once released, he discovers that Pola has moved on with one of his best friends. Albert leaves Pola and continues singing in the streets of Paris.

Although poetic realism was not a firmly established movement in France until the mid-1930s, with the works of Jean Vigo and Jean Renoir, "Under the Roofs of Paris" certainly could be attributed to spring boarding this movement forward. With the introduction of talking pictures into the French market, a new style had to be developed in order to accommodate an additional function for the picture. It was pretty simple to borrow from the German's 'realism,' a style created as a direct pushback from the explosive German Expressionism movement. Realism offered a gritty, plain look at everyday citizens and their difficult struggles. However, France's overall temperament did not match the bleak nature of Germany. Instead, a visual lyricism was employed to accommodate the general French personality. Taking the 'realist' elements from Germany and adding a heightened aestheticism that drew attention to the representational aspects of the film created what we consider 'poetic realism.' The plainness of the camera in a realist piece is replaced with an engaged camera, which is always artfully portraying the realist images with a sense of interest and poetic interpretation. For example, in "Under the Roofs of Paris," there is a scene in which Albert and Pola are walking through the streets of Paris at night. In a 'realist' piece, the camera would be mostly stable and particularly focused on a plain observation of the events without engaging them in any way. With Clair, the camera engages the images. We are shown a shot of Albert and Pola's feet as they walk, while their top thirds are not in shot. The camera then observes them overhead, as it takes in the entire city block: streetlights, houses, shadows, alleyways, etc. With the additional music, the viewer witnesses a poetic representation of an average event. Walking through the street is a pretty mundane visual image. With Clair's poetic camera, the mundane event is interpreted as something far more interesting. Even with the film's darker tones, the camera and the perspective are always engaged - always finding the beauty and interest in every event or activity. With this, poetic realism becomes a staple of France. Not just in the 1930s, but for decades to come. 

For the remainder of the 1930s, poetic realism would become far more engaged with economic, social, and political interpretations of an artist's work. With "Under the Roofs of Paris," this engagement was far more simple, as the structure and form was just in its infancy. Poetic realism often heightened the everyday into something far more interesting. This is exactly the intention with "Under the Roofs of Paris." The events of an everyday French quarter, with everyday characters, and everyday events are observed with a romantic viewpoint. With this, the film becomes a reflection of the French audience-goers in 1930. They come to the cinema not to escape their reality, but to observe it through a heightened lens. This is their Paris, and the 'roofs' from the film's title could very well be their own.