Still Life by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Still Life

Page 109

Hundreds of animals were killed during filming and local people were used as stand-ins for the actors.

Filming on the sets in Joinville continued at a slow pace. Renoir would often film fifteen to twenty takes of individual shots and change dialogue on the set, making previous takes useless. Film historian Joel Findler said the film ‘truly evolved during its making, as Renoir worked on writing and rewriting the script, balancing and rebalancing the characters and relationships, plots and subplots. Cartier-Bresson said the improvisation during filming was like a jam session; both cast and crew members were encouraged to suggest ideas and dialogue would often change on the morning of the shoot.

On March 16th, 1939, Germany invaded Czechoslovakia, breaking the Munich Agreement, which caused the French Army to start mobilizing in anticipation of a coming war. Shortly afterwards, several of the film's electricians and technicians left to join the army. Set designer Eugène Lourié left because he was Jewish and a communist, and Max Douy took over as the film's set designer.

During filming, Renoir became disappointed by Gregor's performance. He began to cut her scenes and add new scenes for Paulette Dubost and Mila Parély. Film historian Gerald Mast