Paris 36 {Movie Review}

The story is a musical drama and comedy that revolves around Chansonia, a music hall in Paris Faubourg.

On New Year’s Eve of 1935, the hall’s manager, Pigoil, loses both his wife and his

steady job when he discovers that she is cheating on him and leaving him for another man and the hall gets closed down when the owner commits suicide because he cannot pay his debts to the local mobster, Galapiat.

Months later, our poor protagonist loses his beloved son Jojo as well when the child is given to his ex wife because Pigoil has no job and cannot support the child. This pushes Pigoil to get income by reclaiming Chansonia with the help of

It’s all so depressing but things get better (how could it possibly get any worse?) when the “Radio Man” who fears the outside world and only stays inside his house hears Douce’s voice and realizes that she is the daughter of Rose, the woman he was in love with, the woman who used to be Chansonia’s star whom he composed songs for. He loved her so much that when she got pregnant (she had to “slip between the sheets” for her career) and ran away, he started to retreat into his own world as well. So he runs after Douche and convinces her to come back and with his new songs, make Chansonia grand again.

Meanwhile, Pigoil has not died from the fall but only injured his foot. He goes home to find that his landlord was claiming all his possessions. He prays them spare his son’s accordion and brings it to him. But Jojo is not home, so he just leaves it on the boy’s bed, pausing to inhale his son’s fragrance from the shirt on his bed.

Much later, Jojo inadvertently discovers that his mother had been hiding his and his father’s letters. Back home, Pigoil is roused from his furnitureless apartment by a serenade below his window – his beloved Jojo had come home to play him a tune on his accordion.

The Chansonia rises from its ashes and they make enough money to buy it back, but things go awry with the Galapiat-Douche-Milou love triangle. Two innocent characters become victims of the crossfire. When Galapiat discovers that Douche and Milou are lovers, he sends his henchmen to kill Milou and steal his money, but they end up killing Jacky. When Milou runs after Galapiat for this, Pigoil trails after him and ends up killing Galapiat. He ends up behind bars.

Ten years later, he is released and he walks towards a jam-packed Chansonia. He is about to ask the guard to tell the star, Jo Pigoil, that his father has arrived, but he changes his mind and tells the guard “nevermind, let him play” instead.

He sits outside the music hall and listens to his boy making both their dreams come true for them.

A somewhat sad yet still happy ending.

It was a long movie with many subplots, but it was entertaining all throughout, despite the sadness. My favorite subplot was the main one about the father and son’s great love for each other. It broke my heart to see Pigoil put Jojo’s shirt to his face, like he really wanted to embrace his missing son, and my heart got so overwhelmed at the moment he crept back to the window when he realized that it was Jojo playing the accordion.

I was also touched by the radio man’s love for Rose. I shed tears for those scenes and a few more, but it was totally worth it. Tres magnifique! I am so watching more French films after this.