MERLUSSE © CMF-MPC
Restoration of Merlusse: interview with Nicolas Pagnol
Since 2007, Nicolas Pagnol has been striving to restore his grandfather’s catalog and has coordinated between 16 and 18 restorations of his films, including Merlusse (1935), presented at Cannes Classics, 70 years after Marcel Pagnol’s presidency of the Feature Films Jury. Interview.
What role did Merlusse play in Marcel Pagnol’s filmography?
Filmed in 1935, Merlusse was the first original screenplay written by Marcel Pagnol for cinema. This film was his fourth production and marked his second collaboration with Henri Poupon, who played the character of Merlusse. I think this film meant a lot to him because he intentionally chose Lycée Thiers in Marseille as the backdrop. He went to school there, alongside his childhood friend Albert Cohen, and, in the film, the high school is a character in itself.
Who was Henri Poupon, who played Merlusse?
Henri Poupon was, according to what my grandmother, Jacqueline, told me, a formidable man. He came from cabaret, was a singer, was very sharp, and very funny. He began his film career with my grandfather in Jofroi, in 1933. After that, he appeared in virtually all of his films. I think he was a terrific actor — check him out in Naïs (1945)! Also, Raimu had always refused to film with him; I think he was a bit wary of his talent. In other words, Marcel used to say that he could have had an incredible career if he weren’t so lazy. Marcel said that he had offered Poupon the role of a lifetime in America, to which he replied that summer was coming, the girls were in skirts, and so he had to decline the offer.
Did you get any echo from filming?
Yes, filming went well. However, Marcel had Philips develop an audio recording system for Studio Pagnol because he had had enough of working with Western Electric. It cost him a fortune. Then, he filmed Merlusse and Cigalon (1935) but, since he wasn’t convinced during post-production, he had to return both films and modify his recording system, which ended up working.
Can you tell us about the restoration of the film?
We started off with the original negative, on a reel where the negative was completely distorted. But thanks to the talented Guillaume Schiffman, who took care of the calibration, it’s virtually imperceptible. And the TransPerfect Media team did a great job: one by one, they fixed the issues we had with the films, for example with mold, lack of gelatin, and saturated colors. And God knows the negative was damaged! Sound also presented a huge challenge in my grandfather’s films. There was a lot of echo because it was filmed at this large empty high school, so it echoed a lot. We had to try to contain all of that.
