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6.1/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.1/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. La petite de Montparnasse remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you are looking for a fast-paced thriller, stay away from this one. Seriously. You will be bored to tears within ten minutes.
But if you like that specific kind of old-school French atmosphere where everyone looks like they just stepped out of a charcoal drawing, it might be worth your afternoon.
I think people who collect early sound-era curiosities will dig it. Most other people will probably find the audio hiss too annoying to handle.
So, we have this guy, the Count's son. He's rich, or at least his family is. But he’s got this girlfriend in Montparnasse who is... well, she's poor. Very poor.
They have this secret little spot where they meet. It's actually kind of sweet. They even have a job they do together just to scrape by some pocket change.
It’s not like The Crowd Roars where everything is loud and fast. This is much more quiet. Maybe too quiet sometimes.
The conflict is exactly what you think it is. The dad. He's a Count, and he thinks his son is wasting his time with a "nobody."
One thing that kept distracting me was the way the characters stand. They all stand so stiffly. It’s like they’re afraid if they move too fast, the microphone hanging over their heads will hit them.
There is a scene where the father, played by Pierre Magnier, is yelling about the family honor. He looks like he’s about to pop a vein, but his hair stays perfectly in place. It’s impressive, honestly.
And the hats. Every woman in this movie is wearing a hat that looks like it could double as a satellite dish. I spent five minutes just wondering how they kept them on their heads during the windy scenes.
The girlfriend, played by Grazia del Rio, has these eyes that just look perpetually sad. Even when she’s happy, she looks like she’s about to cry. It’s a bit much after an hour.
"You don't understand our love!" - basically every line in the second act.
It reminds me a bit of the melodrama in Flames of Passion, though maybe a little less intense. Or maybe just more French.
I noticed this one extra in the background of a cafe scene. He’s just sitting there, staring directly into the camera for like three seconds. Nobody caught it in editing? It’s hilarious.
The "shared work" they do is never really explained well. They’re just... working. It feels like the movie wants us to care about their struggle without actually showing us the sweat.
There’s a lot of walking. People walking into rooms. People walking out of rooms. Sometimes they just walk around the furniture for no reason.
The sets look like they’re made of very thin wood. You can almost hear them creak when someone slams a door. It adds a bit of accidental charm to the whole thing.
It’s fine. It’s not a masterpiece. It’s not a disaster.
It’s one of those movies that makes you feel like you’ve traveled back in time, mostly because it’s so slow that time actually seems to stop.
I liked the scenes in the little apartment more than the big mansion scenes. The mansion felt cold and fake. The apartment felt like someone actually lived there, even if the walls were probably paper.
If you’ve seen The Race, you know how these old stories usually go. This one doesn't break the mold. It just sits in the mold and gets comfortable.
I wouldn't go out of my way to find a DVD of this, but if it’s playing on some late-night artsy channel, sure. Leave it on while you fold laundry. 🧺
The French dialogue is actually pretty easy to follow if you know basic school-level French. They speak very clearly. Probably because they were still figuring out how to record voices back then.
Anyway, it’s a decent slice of 1932 history. Just don't expect it to change your life or anything. 🤷♂️
IMDb 6.3
1926
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