Exhibition / Room 4 The Night Visitors, a dream of the Middle Ages

The Night Visitors, a dream of the Middle Ages

The Night Visitors (1942) by Marcel Carné establishes a particular historical representation. The film's opening shot is directly inspired by the October illumination of the Très Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry. A pristine white castle appears atop a hill, while below a peasant sows seed by hand; another on horseback passes through the portcullis, thus offering a synthesis of the feudal system. In general, peasants serve merely as scenery in medievalist films, hence their often marginal position on the screen.

Carné's film presents a hieratic image of the Middle Ages. The castle's interior garden, likewise very conventional, is inspired by the illuminations taken from Guillaume de Lloris's Roman de la Rose. It is the setting for the lovers' encounter.

Finally, you can sense vivid sunlit landscapes despite the film being shot in studios. This flamboyant environment is not meant to last. From the 1970s/1980s onwards, the medieval world is consistently dark, misty and rainy.