Abstract
Yves Montand’s visit to the Soviet Union was a major media event. It was widely discussed by the press beforehand, both in France and in the USSR, but it was also a cinematic event. When Montand and Signoret landed at the Vnukovo airport, film cameras were waiting outside the aircraft. This chapter focuses on the film Yves Montand Sings (Poet Iv Montan, 1957), produced by the Moscow-based Central Studio for Documentary Film and directed by the three-time Stalin prize winner Mikhail Slutsky (1907–1959). Slutsky wrote the script together with Sergei Yutkevich (1904–1985) who, in spring 1956, had just won the best director award for his Othello at the Cannes Film Festival. This chapter analyses the production process of the film, including all versions of the script preserved at the Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts (RGALI), and interprets the documentary as a vehicle of cultural diplomacy, which aimed at underlining the peaceful relationships between French and Soviet people. The chapter concludes with an examination of the reception of the film in both France and elsewhere in Europe.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Daily News / A Chronicle of the Day 1956 No 51 (Novosti dnja / khronika nashikh dnei 1956 № 51), https://www.net-film.ru/film-10342/. See also Yves Montand, Hervé Hamon and Patrick Rotman. 1992. You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, translated by Jeremy Leggatt. London: Chatto & Windus, 269.
- 2.
Thematical production plan of the Central Studio for Documentary Film for year 1956, dated in December 1955. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 117, 102–104.
- 3.
Protocol of the meeting of Chief Edition Committee of the Central Studio for Documentary Film, dated 6 February 1956. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 117, 53–57.
- 4.
Woll, Josephine. 2000. Real Images: Soviet Cinema and the Thaw. London: I.B.Tauris, 3.
- 5.
A hand-written note, dated on 7 December 1956. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560.
- 6.
An early version of the plan of the film Yves Montand Sings, no date [before November 1956]. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 62.
- 7.
An early version of the plan of the film Yves Montand Sings, no date [before November 1956]. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 62.
- 8.
A suggestion to shoot a documentary film on Yves Montand’s visit to the Soviet Union by M. Slutsky and S. Yutkevich, no date. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 71.
- 9.
A suggestion to shoot a documentary film on Yves Montand’s visit to the Soviet Union by M. Slutsky and S. Yutkevich, no date. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 71.
- 10.
A suggestion to shoot a documentary film on Yves Montand’s visit to the Soviet Union by M. Slutsky and S. Yutkevich, no date. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 72.
- 11.
A suggestion to shoot a documentary film on Yves Montand’s visit to the Soviet Union by M. Slutsky and S. Yutkevich, no date. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 75.
- 12.
A suggestion to shoot a documentary film on Yves Montand’s visit to the Soviet Union by M. Slutsky and S. Yutkevich, no date. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 76.
- 13.
A hand-written note, dated on 7 December 1956. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 77.
- 14.
On newsreels and documentaries of the 1920s and 1930s, see Valerya Selunskaya and Maria Zezina. 1993. ‘Documentary Film—a Soviet source for Soviet historians.’ Stalinism and Soviet Cinema, edited by Richard Taylor and Derek Spring. London: Routledge, 172.
- 15.
Roberts, Graham. 1999. Forward Soviet!: History and Non-Fiction Film in the USSR. London: I.B. Tauris, 118.
- 16.
Roberts, Forward Soviet!, 107.
- 17.
Selunskaya and Zezina, ‘Documentary Film—a Soviet source for Soviet historians’, 181.
- 18.
Richard M. Barsam. 1992. Nonfiction Film: A Critical History, revised and expanded. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 208.
- 19.
The copy of the film can be viewed at the Russian Archive for Documentary Films and Newsreels that holds an open digital collection of footage at http://net-film.ru. The direct link to Yves Montand Sings is https://d1.net-film.ru/web-tc-mp4/fs25423.mp4, accessed 5 May 2020.
- 20.
The film passage at 02:32. Yves Montand Sings is https://d1.net-film.ru/web-tc-mp4/fs25423.mp4, accessed 5 May 2020.
- 21.
The film passage at 03:16. Yves Montand Sings is https://d1.net-film.ru/web-tc-mp4/fs25423.mp4, accessed 5 May 2020.
- 22.
Daily News / A Chronicle of the Day 1956 No 51 (Novosti dnia / khronika nashikh dnei 1956 № 51), https://www.net-film.ru/film-10342/. See also Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 269.
- 23.
The letter has been reprinted in Montand, Hamon, Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 267–268.
- 24.
Letter to Obtaztsov 5 December 1956. Reprinted in Joëlle Monserrat. 1983. Yves Montand. Paris: Éditions Pac, 119. See also Montand, Hamon, Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 267–268.
- 25.
Montand, Hamon, Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 269. Hamon and Rotman refer to Sovietskaia Russiya 18 December 1956.
- 26.
Simone Signoret. 1978. Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be. New York: Harper & Row, 155.
- 27.
Script of the Yves Montand Sings documentary film by Mikhail Slutsky and Sergei Yutkevich, dated 1 March 1957. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 4.
- 28.
The film passage at 03:41. Yves Montand Sings is https://d1.net-film.ru/web-tc-mp4/fs25423.mp4, accessed 5 May 2020.
- 29.
Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 155.
- 30.
Sophie Coeuré and Rachel Mazuy. 2012. Cousu de fil rouge: Voyages des intellectuels francais en Union soviétique. Paris: CNRS Éditions, 173, 336, 340.
- 31.
Yves Montand Sings, https://www.net-film.ru/en/film-4886/, accessed 30 March 2020.
- 32.
The folder RGALI f 2329 o 12 e 2653 (Akty ob okonchanii proizvodstva khronikal’no-dokumental’nykh fil’mov, 2 February–8 August 1957) contains information on all completed documentary films in February-August 1957. “Poet Iv Montan”, 47–48.
- 33.
See, Film Rate Calculator, https://www.digitalrebellion.com/webapps/filmcalc, accessed 30 March 2020.
- 34.
The description of the film Singer of Paris, version II, dated on December 21, 1956. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 42.
- 35.
A suggestion to shoot a documentary film on Yves Montand’s visit to the Soviet Union by M. Slutsky and S. Yutkevich, no date. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 74.
- 36.
Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 276–283, Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 184–215.
- 37.
Letter of Geroges Soria to the Soviet Ministry of Culture, no date. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 83–84.
- 38.
Presentation of the organisation of Yves Montand’s tour in the Soviet Union, addressed to Minister of Culture N.A. Mihailov, no date [~early December 1956]. RGALI f 2329 o 8 e 365, 66–67.
- 39.
The description of the film Singer of Paris, version I, dated 15 December 1956. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 58.
- 40.
Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 157.
- 41.
Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 159.
- 42.
Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 163.
- 43.
Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 270–271.
- 44.
Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 167.
- 45.
Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 272.
- 46.
‘M. Khrouchtchev: contre les impérialistes nous sommes tous des staliniens.’ Le Monde 3 January 1957.
- 47.
A suggestion to shoot a documentary film on Yves Montand’s visit to the Soviet Union by M. Slutsky and S. Yutkevich, no date. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 75.
- 48.
The description of the film Singer of Paris, version I, dated on 15 December 1956. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 49.
- 49.
The description of the film Singer of Paris, version I, dated on 15 December 1956. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 50.
- 50.
The description of the film Singer of Paris, version II, dated on 21 December 1956. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 35.
- 51.
Montand, Hamon and Rotman, You See, I Haven’t Forgotten, 269–270.
- 52.
As we have seen in Chap. 5, after the Hungarian Revolution in October and November 1956, he struggled with the decision whether to leave or not. On the French discussion on the Hungarian crisis, see Michael Scott Christofferson. 2004. ‘French Intellectuals and the Repression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956: The Politics of a Protest Reconsideres.’ After the Deluge: New Perspectives on the Intellectual and Cultural History of Postwar France, edited by Julian Bourg. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 253–271.
- 53.
‘Succé för Yves Montand vid första Moskva-framträdandet.’ Arbetartidningen 27 December 1956.
- 54.
Signoret, Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be, 159.
- 55.
An early version of the script of the Yves Montand Sings documentary by Mikhail Slutsky and Sergei Yutkevich, no date [February 1957]. RGALI f 2487 o 1 e 560, 26.
- 56.
Fyodor Abramov’s diary, 1 February 1957. Accessed at the private archive of Abramov’s widow by Anatoly Pinsky.
- 57.
The folder RGALI f 2329 o 12 e 2653 (Akty ob okonchanii proizvodstva khronikal’no-dokumental’nykh fil’mov, 2 February–8 August 1957) contains information on all completed documentary films in February-August 1957. “Poet Iv Montan”, 47–48.
- 58.
Letter of the Director of the Documentary Film Studios to the leader of the Department of film production at the Soviet Ministry for Culture, dated on 2 April 1957. RGALI f 2329 o 15 e 8, 36.
- 59.
Letter of the leader of the Department of film production at the Soviet Ministry for Culture to Vice-Minister of Culture of the Soviet Union, dated on 23 April 1957. RGALI f 2329 o 15 e 8, 37.
- 60.
Letter of Deputy Chief A. Kalashnikov to the Soviet Ministry for Culture, V. Surin, dated on 22 August, 1957. RGALI f 2329 o 15 e 8, 92.
- 61.
Pierre Lherminier. 2005. Signoret Montand: deux vies dans le siècle. Paris: Éditions Ramsay, 223.
- 62.
Quoted in Patricia A. DeMaio 2014. Garden of Dreams: The Life of Simone Signoret. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 138.
- 63.
Hans Henning Paetzke. 1986. Budapest 30 ans plus tard: entretiens avec les animateurs de l’opposition démocratique hongroise. Paris: Joseph Clims, 8.
- 64.
‘Yves Montand ira chanter aux États-Unis.’ Le Monde 5 January 1959.
- 65.
Monserrat, Yves Montand, 124.
- 66.
Combat 26 November 1959.
- 67.
Combat 26 November 1959.
- 68.
Jean-Claude Ménard. 1960. ‘Les films de la semaine.’ La Voix de Shawinigan 28 December 1960. This newspaper is available at the Google Newspaper Archive.
- 69.
This is also confirmed by Matthieu Grimault (La Cinémathèque française) amd Eric Le Roy (Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image animée). Matthieu Grimault’s email to Hannu Salmi 10 June 2020 and Eric Le Roy’s email to Hannu Salmi 11 June 2020.
- 70.
Fiche oeuvre: Yves Montand chante, https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/21034, accessed 12 June 2020.
- 71.
Cinéma pour les ondes—Le film réalisé en URSS en 1956: Yves Montand chante (1ère diffusion: 09/02/1960 Paris Inter), https://www.franceculture.fr/emissions/les-nuits-de-france-culture/cinema-pour-les-ondes-le-film-realise-en-urss-en-1956-yves, accessed 12 June 2020.
- 72.
Gaumont Pathé Archives, Yves Montand, 1957 9 21 NU, http://gaumontpathearchives.com/index.php?urlaction=doc&id_doc=37506&rang=47.
- 73.
Gaumont Pathé Archives, Yves Montand chante en URSS, 5700AKDOC02496, http://gaumontpathearchives.com/index.php?urlaction=doc&id_doc=271972.
- 74.
An email by Louise Doumerc (Gaumont Pathé Archives) to Hannu Salmi on 8 June 2020.
- 75.
The poster of Śpiewa Yves Montand (1958), http://gapla.fn.org.pl/plakat/5897/piewa-yves-montand.html, accessed 10 June 2020. See also http://www.theartofposter.com/poster.asp?id=1947, accessed 10 June 2020.
- 76.
Kansan Uutiset 5 December 1958; Uusi Suomi 12 December 1958; Suomen Sosialidemokraatti 25 January 1963.
- 77.
Etelä-Suomen Sanomat 30 September 1960.
- 78.
The programme of ’Tallinnan TV’, in Uusi Suomi 11 June 1961.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Oiva, M., Salmi, H., Johnson, B. (2021). The Film Yves Montand Sings. In: Yves Montand in the USSR. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69048-9_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69048-9_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-69047-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-69048-9
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)