The Golden Coach

Anything but a showman myself, I am naturally resistant to the “theater is life: life is theater” theme, so I am not the best judge of this Renoir film, nicely restored as part of Criterion’s “Stage and Spectacle” set of dvds. My absolute favorite director, Francois Truffaut, went so far as to call his production company Le Carrosse d’Or, and another favorite, Martin Scorsese, was responsible for its resurrection, so I suppose I must be missing something in this film. Set in 18th century Peru, and scored to Vivaldi, it depicts the arrival of a commedia del’arte troupe to bring “culture” to a colonial backwater. The color cinematography by nephew Claude Renoir is beautiful to be sure, and there is Jean Renoir’s usual deep-focus swirl of action, both owing something to the patriarchal painter. Anna Magnani is a force of nature but oddly cast as the Columbine all men fall for, and the men tend to be one-dimensional at best -- viceroy Duncan Lamont is the most plausible even though his improvident gift to her of the eponymous trapping of power is not believable for a minute, and the bullfighter and the soldier are stick figures. Magnani is convincing in her just-learned English, but not so some of the other actors in this international production shot in Rome and also released in Italian and French. It’s indicative of the film’s unreality that Spanish has nothing to do with it. Still, if you are willing to follow Renoir through the proscenium arch into this world of theatricality, you will be enchanted. (1953, dvd, r.) *7*