Prochain point : lat="49.1312" lon="2.05052"
Denys de la Patellière's
two full-length feature films
Les Aristocrates...
At the beginning of August 1955, technicians were busy in Grisy-les-Plâtres' schoolyard. They were filming one of the most significant scenes from Denys de la Patellière's first film, Les Aristocrates: The murder of one of the Marquis of Maubrun’s children (François Guérin), killed by a shot from a hunting rifle. His father (Pierre Fresnay) was an aristocrat with strict principles who was against the emancipation and the frivolity of his children. Powerless when confronted with the decline of his family, he left the chateau of Saint-Cyr-sur-Chars and retreated to a monastery.
The film-maker visited more than a hundred schools in the area before setting his sights on the Grisy-les-Plâtres school, which he chose for its authenticity and its position in a lime tree-filled village square. He was barely disappointed by the inclement weather, that had him waiting for the sun for two days. When it appeared, the teacher, Madame Dupas, and a few dozen children acted as extras. “I really appreciated the welcome of that village in Ile-de- France,” said Pierre Fresnay, while discovering the charms of the Vexin's area.
...Forbidden priests
Whether by pure coincidence or intention, it was in the same place as his first full-length feature film that Denys de la Patellière also shot his last one. In 1973, he came back to the village square to stage the thwarted love between abbot Rastaud (Robert Hossein) and the pretty Françoise (Claude Jade). It was in a wood on the Epiais-Rhus road that the priest kissed the young girl for the first time. Many Grisy residents played in the film, particularly in the election scene where the results are announced in the village hall. Pierre Mondy, wearing a red neckerchief was one of the actors in the scene.
