"CLOCHEMERLE"
Sir-yYour film critic "Jno.," writing in the issue of July 3 about the French film Clochemerle, quite rightly says that "our tradition is puritan and that is no preparation for French humour at its most basic." But to describe the film as all too often "unnecessarily grubby," as he does, is to judge it in terms of that puritanism at its worst. The spirit of the film’s unselfconscious portrayal of human nature in the round seems to me so utterly inconsistent with "grubbiness" that the use of the word and the glimpse of the attitude behind it are themselves shocking. May I suggest that, although, of course, Clochemerle should be treated on its merits as an uproarious farce, there are things we could learn from it? -notably the humane and commonsense attitude of the old priest to the problem of the unmarried girl who is going to have a baby. That baby is not going to be found drowned or otherwise dealt
with in any of the drastic ways which reports of court proceedings in our puritan community bring all too often to our reluctant notice.
SHIRLEY
SMITH
(Wellington).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19530724.2.12.4
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 732, 24 July 1953, Page 5
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190"CLOCHEMERLE" New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 732, 24 July 1953, Page 5
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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