Home
search
more | tips
IMDb > "La maison des bois" (1971)

"La maison des bois" (1971) More at IMDbPro »TV mini-series


Overview

User Rating:
8.1/10   28 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 5% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Maurice Pialat
Writer:
René Wheeler (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for La maison des bois on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
11 September 1971 (France) more
Genre:
Drama more
Plot Keywords:
User Comments:
A TV series like no other more

Cast

  (Series Cast overview, first billed only)
Pierre Doris ... Albert Picard, le garde-chasse
Jacqueline Dufranne ... Jeanne Picard (Maman Jeanne)
Agathe Natanson ... Marguerite Picard
Henri Puff ... Marcel Picard
Hervé Lévy ... Hervé Gardy
Fernand Gravey ... Le marquis Georges de Fresnois
Paul Crauchet ... Paul Gardy, le père d'Hervé
Ovila Légaré ... Etienne, le curé
Henri Saulquin ... Le bedeau
Charles Mallone ... Le lieutenant Moret
Maurice Pialat ... L'instituteur
Marie-Christine Boulard ... Mme Pouilly (as Marie-Christine Boulart)
Micha Bayard ... Mme Latour
Barbara Laage ... Hélène Gardy
Brigitte Perrier ... Brigitte, la fille d'Hélène
more
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Runtime:
52 min (7 episodes)
Country:
Italy | France
Language:
French
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.33 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful:-
A TV series like no other, 21 July 2008
8/10
Author: nmegahey from DVD Times

Set in the French countryside during the Great War of 1914-18 Pialat's extraordinary seven episode TV serial extends the themes of his debut feature L'Enfance Nue, the director however having much more freedom and time to explore the nature of childhood and the impact on children abandoned by their parents. The series focuses on the experiences of three children (including even Michel Tarrazon, the young star of the earlier movie) living out in the country with gamekeeper Albert and Maman Jeanne on the country estate of a Marquis. The gamekeeper and his wife have their own older children, Marcel and Marguerite, but the three boys have been sent there by their parents who have been caught up in the war, the fathers called up to the front, the mothers simply unable to look after them in the present climate.

Pialat would claim that La Maison des Bois was his best work, and it's not difficult to see why he would think so, the director having unprecedented freedom to direct his vision - so unlike anything else in conventional French cinema let alone television shows of the period - over an inexperienced crew, and indulge his technique over 6 hours of long naturalistic takes where very little of importance seems to happen. It's certainly a bit rough around the edges in a lot of places, but simple and unostentatious, always finding the truth in the moment. Long sections of entire episodes are given over to extended scenes of picnics or of the family and children bathing outdoors in a bathtub, and particularly children playing, the director managing to capture in them the rhythms of life and the warmth of family relationships. When the real drama of the war and family loss does intrude into their lives, it is then done with subtlety and has all the more impact, the pain seeming to be felt by real people with real lives.

The theme of lost children is consequently also extended out to those young boys sent to die in the trenches, Pialat achieving the full import of the situation on the community without actually having to go to the front, contrasting for example the picnic on Episode 3 with a bivouac in Episode 4, and in a sinister war game played by the children that is a premonition of the death to come. Even the joy of the Armistice at the star of Episode 6 is tempered with the incredibly poignant and sad scenes of the children's return to Paris. Pialat's later films would delve deeper into life, love, death and relationships but they are all here to some extent in La Maison des Bois, with the same sense of complete authenticity, but seen very much here from the perspective of a young child.

Was the above comment useful to you?
more

Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for "La maison des bois" (1971)

Recommendations

If you enjoyed this title, our database also recommends:
- - - - -
"La piovra" "La piovra 2" "La piovra 3" "Le comte de Monte Cristo" "Race for the Bomb"
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
Show more recommendations

Related Links

Full cast and crew Company credits External reviews
IMDb TV section IMDb Drama section IMDb Italy section
Add this title to MyMovies

You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.

Add a new episode

You may add a new episode for this TV series by clicking the 'add episode' button