A Pig Across Paris (September 24th at the Capitol Theatre)

[A PIG ACROSS PARIS screens Tuesday September 24th at 7:00 pm at the Capitol Theatre in association with the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Pamela Zoslov

“Don't laugh too loudly when you see it, or else your neighbor won't hear the dialogue,” warned director François Truffaut about La Traversée de Paris, or A PIG ACROSS PARIS, the 1956 dark comedy directed by Claude Autant-Lara and set in Paris during the German Occupation. The film, only briefly released in the U.S. in the 1950s, disappeared completely for years. Cleveland audiences have the opportunity to see a new restoration of this rare classic, presented by the Cleveland Cinematheque at the Capitol Theatre, Tuesday, September 24 at 7 p.m.

Adapted from a novel by Marcel Aymé, the film, also known as “Four Bags Full,” offers a fascinating view of life in Paris under Gestapo rule — hunger, suspicion, black market smuggling, tension and fear, handled by the city's war-weary denizens with a particularly Gallic cynicism. Here is a world where, in one of the world's most beautiful cities, a person can't expect the luxury of eating every day, and might be arrested for simply having a bar of soap.