Personal and historical context:

 Prévert was born in 1900 in a working class family and money was often short.
As a child, he would often hang around Paris with his dad and visit poor people.
From this, he gained a stock of images and experiences which inspired many of
his poems and scripts. He always had great sympathy for poor people.

 1930’s: depression years, social unrest.

Geographical context

Paris: Shop Felix Potin, opened in 1844, very famous in its days. The building still
exists but the company has gone bankrupt.

2. Now read the poem and sum up the story. Was it what you might have
expected from the title? How do we call such titles?

This poem tells us the story of a poor man (unemployed? homeless?) who has not
eaten for three day. He kills a well off man, steals his money and buys something to
eat in a café.

The story is in deep contrast with what the title might have let us believe. “Grasse
matinée” usually relates to holiday times or Sunday mornings when we are tucked in
bed and simply relax. There is nothing enjoyable about the man’s life in the poem.
We know he is a vagabond and probably has no bed to lie in. The word “grasse”
highlights a further contrast between wealthiness and the man’s hunger.

This is another example of Prévert’s antiphrastic titles.

3. Prévert was a poet but also worked for the cinema. The first ‘talkies’ had a
great influence on him. He developed a visual and verbal talent and could synchronise
images and words. Can you find some cinematic techniques in this poem?

 The poem presents some characteristics of silent movies.

There is not many sounds in the whole story. In fact the only one describes is the
boiled egg getting cracked on the bar. There are no dialogues in the story, except
maybe inside the mans head "ça ne peut pas durer". We could easily imagine a scene
with a speech bubble revealing the man’s thought. Verses 52-59 are also
characteristic of silent movies. We could compare them to ‘journalistic frames’.

 Cinematic scenes
The poem is build around 4 scenes in different settings: the shop window, the café,
the street, the café.

 Visual techniques
(“gros plan” / “plan raproché” / close-up)
Focus on the man’s head looking at his own reflection in the window.
Detailed description of his facial movement “et il remue doucement la mâchoire», «il
grince des dents doucement»
(«plan fixe» / sequence shot)
Detailed description of what the man can see in the shop window. Focus on movement:

Zoom out
ces pâtés ces bouteilles ces conserves
poissons morts protégés par les boîtes
boîtes protégées par les vitres
vitres protégées par les flics
flics protégés par la crainte

 Movement/rhythm

un brouillard de mots
sardines à manger
oeuf dur café-crème
café arrosé rhum
café-crème
café-crème
café-crime arrosé sang!...

The verses are getting shorter, the rhythm is getting faster. In a similar way, we
can imagine shots would get shorter in a movie as the climax to the story would get
closer (here the crime).
4. How would you describe the ton of the poem? Justify your answer.

The poem is very cynical and gloomy. Prévert uses black humour and derision to a
great effect.

 The man is pathetic.

He is dirty («elle est terrible aussi la tête de l’homme», «une tête couleur de
poussière») and does not care about his appearance anymore («il s’en fout de sa tête
l’homme», «il n’y pense pas»). He has lost his dignity. He stumbles weakened by
hunger.

 Black humour:
café arrosé rhum
café-crème
café-crème
café-crime arrosé sang!...

Prévert plays with the words and invent a new expression ‘café-crime’. This is a short
but very effective way to express the murder and chock the readers. The man had
to kill to feed himself.
il imagine une autre tête
une tête de veau par exemple
avec une sauce de vinaigre
ou une tête de n’importe quoi qui se mange

We have here another play of word on the meaning of ‘tête’. It is even more cruel as
Prévert highlights in fact in these verses the terrible state of hunger of the man.

5. What aspects of the poem belong to the surrealist movement?

Lack of conformism: not many rimes, free verse, lack of punctuation

Humour: play with words
Invention: café-crime
6. What happens to the man? Who is responsible?

Prévert seems to be sided with the tramp even if he does not condone his crime. He
suggests that the tramp might not be totally responsible for his acts. First of all, he
describes him as weak. Prévert insists on the physical impact of hunger that might
lead to a lack of judgement and madness. The man cannot think clearly about his
acts.

l’homme titube
et dans l’intérieur de sa tête
un brouillard de mots
un brouillard de mots

Furthermore, he is on his own. Everyone else is against him (‘le monde se paye sa
tête’). Why did he not get help from society?
7. What is the author’s message?

Prévert is highly critical of a consumer society which allows hunger and poverty. This
was very topical in the 1930’s. Food becomes out of reach of those who do not have
any money. In this case, hunger drives the man to commit murder. Generally, Prévert
says hunger and poverty can lead to the very destruction of the society which allows
it to happen in the first place.

Prévert sees society as split between those who have and those who have not. He
also thinks that those who have use and exploit those who have not.
He shows a deep contrast between luxury and poverty:
"tête couleur de poussière", "vitrine de chez Potin" 
"homme très estimé" (bon bourgeois victime), «l’assassin le vagabond»

Furthermore, those who have money and power, have the law on their side.
«vitres protégées par les flics»