This film is available either on DVD+R or as a direct download in MP4 format. Please make your selection above.
In French with English subtitles.
Also known as
The Naked Heart,
Maria Chapdelaine beautifully supports and sustains French filmmaker
Julien Duvivier's gift for "poetic realism." At its base, this is a simple 19th century romantic triangle. Canadian lass Madeline Renaud is adored with equal fervor by aristocratic
Jean-Pierre Aumont and by crude lumberjack
Jean Gabin. Her indecision paves the way for tragedy.
Louis Hémon's popular 1914 novel was the perfect subject for Julien Duvivier's concept of poetic realism, a quintessentially French film aesthetic (similar to film noir) that would shape most of the director's films in the latter half of the 1930s. Duvivier was not the only exponent of poetic realism -
Jean Grémillon and
Marcel Carné both contributed some superb films in this style - but he was the first director to have success with it. A captivating tragic romance, his
Maria Chapdelaine was not only a commercial success, it was also highly regarded by the critics on both sides of the Atlantic, and it won the Grand Prix du Cinéma Français in 1935.
