I am so glad guest director J.P. Gorin and the co-directors of Telluride 2006 have introduced me to the work of Jean Gremillon. It boggles my mind such a film like Maldonne can be almost 80 years old and still overlooked. The sequence in the dance hall alone makes this film worth finding at all costs--it should be cited in text books next to the Odessa Steps sequence of Battleship Potemkin and the Chorus Girls sequence in Citizen Kane.

It's rare to see a film overflowing with experimentation, like Maldonne, but, at the same time holding firm to sensitive storytelling. Whenever I see a film like this I want to mainline it into the veins of film students. Such creativity brings courage to artists of any age. I love this quote filmmaker J.P. Gorin wrote in a note to himself "as a self medication:"

When stuck: Take two Gremillon and call me tomorrow...