Jean -Benoit Levy and his collaborator Marie Epstein are thoroughly ignored in their homeland ,but oddly retain a small cult abroad : both this movie and "la maternelle" are avalaible in copies with French and English subtitles ;both deal with childhood ; probably influenced by Jacques Feyder 's "visages d'enfants" , both works are musts for people interested in the past of the French cinema .Whereas "la maternelle" is a talkie (but the current copy is not complete),"Peau De pêche " is a silent movie , and I mean silent for there's no music at all .
And anyway the splendid pictures survive the absent of score : close shots of the children's faces are splendid indeed ,capturing their innocence, their enthusiasm and their mischievousness; often filmed on location in the streets in Paris, or in the vast horizons of a not-so-peaceful country, the cinematography is splendid indeed.
"Peau De Peche (=peach skin) got his nickname because he easily flushes;played by Jimmy Gaillard ,a child actor who had worked with Julien Duvivier in "le mystère de la tour Eiffel " two years before and would continue his career as an adult ,sadly without great works ;one can consider this urchin from Montmartre his best role .
"Peau De Pêche" is some kind of Gavroche ,raised by his Thénardier -like foster parents ,a shrew and her alcoholic husband ;since the very beginning ,his intense longing for love ,affection and tenderness is reflected by the way he looks at the bride who comes out of the church ;then the way he leans on her when her husband had left to war and she's playing the piano alone .
All the first part takes place in Paris when men wage war (WW1) ; the boy cuts out pictures of soldiers who,he thinks,are heroes who live a great adventure ; however ,legs are shown and among them , crutches ..
After an accident , caused by a guilt feeling ,the young boy is sent to the country.
He's welcomed by cousins who treat him well ,but the mother is worrying about her son Jean,gone to war ... a war which sometimes comes near the apparently peaceful farm .The soldier's leave is treated with consummate virtuosity : they prepare the bedroom ,put flowers in the vase :then the message ,the spectacles ,the grave ,and miles of graves -which recall Abel Gance 's "j'accuse "- ,treated in admirably succint style "it's that ,war ", says the kid who cuts his pictures of soldiers.
The transition between childhood and adulthood is smart: in the distance,the boy drives the plow and the farmer says :"we've got a man at home now" ,even though his wife would never be able to get over her son's death (see her attitude in the feast of the end of war ,then at the election of the queen).
The second part happens ten years after ,namely in the directors' time ; as it was produced by the ministry of agriculture ,it was only natural that the tiny village got to know the whole world through the radio : another feat from the directors :without a sound,and for a good reason, one has the incredible impression to hear the broadcasts.
The river plays a prominent part in this part : when it runs dry, it's a disaster ; when waters flow again,it's cause for celebration. However ,when Peau De Peche and his best friend La Ficelle (=the String) are sitting by the river ,the girl 's reflection comes between theirs.
Although they drive their plow over the bones of the dead, "Peau de Pêche " is a message of hope for the future ,for harvest time will come and a baby at her mother's breast will cling to the tree of life.
