French Cancan | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Jean Renoir |
Written by | Jean Renoir André-Paul Antoine (idea) |
Produced by | Louis Wipf |
Starring | Jean Gabin Françoise Arnoul María Félix |
Cinematography | Michel Kelber |
Edited by | Borys Lewin |
Music by | Georges Van Parys |
Production company | Franco London Film |
Distributed by | Gaumont Film Company |
Release date |
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Running time | 104 minutes |
Countries | France Italy |
Language | French |
Box office | 4,075,306 admissions (France)[1] |
French Cancan (also known as Only the French Can) is a 1955 French-Italian musical film written and directed by Jean Renoir and starring Jean Gabin, Francoise Arnoul, and María Félix. It marked Renoir's return to France and to French cinema after an exile that began in 1940.[2]
Where Renoir's previous film, The Golden Coach (1952), had celebrated the 18th-century Italian commedia dell’arte, this work is a homage to the Parisian café-concert of the 19th century, with its popular singers and dancers. Visually, the film evokes the paintings of Edgar Degas and the Impressionists, including Renoir's own father, Pierre-Auguste Renoir.[3]