Grandeur and Decadence: A dusty but honest look at losing it all

Is this movie worth your time today? Probably not, unless you are the kind of person who spends their Friday nights digging through old film archives. If you like seeing people in fancy hats look increasingly stressed about their bank accounts, you might actually have a good time. But if you want a fast plot or a clear hero, you're gonna hate this one. It's slow and it feels its age.

I sat down to watch Grandeur and Decadence because I wanted to see Firmin Gémier. He has this way of looking like he's about to cry even when he's just ordering a drink. It's a very specific vibe that you only get in these early French talkies. The sound is a bit crackly, which actually helps the mood of things falling apart.

The story is basically what the title says. A family has a lot of stuff, and then they don't. It's not a spoiler because the movie tells you right away that things are going south. I found myself focusing on the wallpaper in the background of the main office. It looks like it was designed to make people feel small and unimportant.

There is a scene about twenty minutes in where the patriarch is sitting at his desk. The desk is huge. Like, comically huge. He looks like a little kid sitting at the grown-ups' table. I think the director did that on purpose to show how the business was eating him alive. Or maybe they just had a big desk on set that day. 🤷‍♂️

Marcelle Géniat is the one who really keeps the movie from becoming a total snooze. She has these eyes that just burn through the screen. Every time she's in a scene, the energy goes up about ten percent. When she's not there, the movie kind of drags its feet. It reminds me of the pacing in The Treasure, where you just wait for someone to do something interesting.

Things I noticed while watching:

• The way people hold their cigarettes in the 30s is so dramatic.
• There is a maid in the background of one scene who looks like she's completely over it.
• The music gets really loud for no reason whenever someone walks through a door.
• Firmin Gémier’s mustache deserves its own acting credit.

The middle part of the movie is a bit of a mess. It feels like they had a bunch of scenes of people arguing about ledgers and didn't know how to edit them together. One reaction shot of a guy in a suit lasts about five seconds too long. It starts to feel like the camera operator fell asleep or something. I actually laughed a little, which I don't think was the point.

It’s a bit like Inherited Passions in the way it treats family drama. Everyone is very loud about their feelings but no one actually says what they mean. I guess that’s just how movies were back then. You don't get much subtext; you get people shouting at each other in French while the shadows get longer.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Grandeur and Decadence (1933) through its definitive frames.

I liked the scenes with Edith Méra. She brings a bit of light to the whole thing. The movie gets noticeably better when the characters actually leave their houses. When they stay inside, it starts to feel like a play that’s gone on for a week. There is this one shot of a staircase that is actually pretty cool, though. It looks like it goes on forever.

"A man without a cent is still a man, but a man without a name is a ghost."

I’m pretty sure someone says something like that in the film. It sounds deep, but when you think about it, it doesn't really mean much. That's the whole movie in a nutshell. It tries to be very heavy and serious, but sometimes it’s just a bunch of people being grumpy about their inheritance.

I also kept thinking about Streets of Algiers while watching this. That movie had a bit more grit to it. This one is very polished, or at least it tries to be. But the polish is peeling off at the edges. You can see the seams in the sets if you look closely enough.

Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it a good way to see how people in 1934 felt about the economy? Yeah, probably. It has this oddly empty feeling in the crowd scenes. Like they couldn't afford enough extras, so the streets of Paris look like a ghost town. It adds to the weird, lonely feeling of the whole thing.

The ending is... well, it’s an ending. It doesn't really wrap things up in a neat bow. It just kind of stops. I didn't mind that, actually. Real life doesn't always have a big finale. Sometimes you just run out of money and the screen goes black.

If you're looking for something like The Masks of the Devil, you'll be disappointed. This is much more grounded in reality. Even if that reality is just people crying into expensive handkerchiefs. It’s a decent watch if you’re in the right mood. Just don't expect it to change your life or anything.

One last thing—the lighting in the final dinner scene is actually great. It’s all shadows and sharp angles. It makes the food look gray. I don't know if that was intentional, but it made me not want to eat for an hour. Anyway, it's a fine movie for a rainy Tuesday. 📽️