Life and career
Gabin was born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé in Paris, the son of Madeleine Petit and Ferdinand Moncorgé, a cafe entertainer whose stage name was Gabin. He grew up in the village of Mériel in the Seine-et-Oise (now Val-d'Oise) département, about 22 mi (35 km) north of Paris. The son of cabaret entertainers, he attended the Lycée Janson de Sailly. Leaving school early, he worked as a laborer until the age of 19 when he entered show business with a bit part in a Folies Bergères production. He continued performing in a variety of minor roles before going into the military.
After completing his military service, Gabin returned to the entertainment business, working under the stage name of Jean Gabin at whatever was offered in the Parisian music halls and operettas, imitating the singing style of Maurice Chevalier, which was the rage at the time. He was part of a troupe that toured South America, and upon returning to France found work at the Moulin Rouge. His performances started getting noticed, and better stage roles came along that led to parts in two silent films in 1928.
Two years later, he easily made the transition to talkies in a 1930 Pathé Frères production titled Chacun sa Chance. Playing secondary roles, Gabin made more than a dozen films over the next four years, including films directed by Maurice and Jacques Tourneur. However, he only gained real recognition for his performance in Maria Chapdelaine, a 1934 production directed by Julien Duvivier. Cast as a romantic hero in a 1936 war drama titled La Bandera, this second Duvivier-directed film established Gabin as a major star. The following year, he teamed up with Duvivier again, this time in the highly successful Pépé le Moko; its popularity brought Gabin international recognition. That same year, he starred in the Jean Renoir film La Grande Illusion, an anti-war film that ran at a New York City theatre for an unprecedented six months. This was followed by another one of Renoir's major works: La Bête Humaine (The Human Beast), a film noir tragedy based on the novel by Émile Zola and starring Gabin and Simone Simon, as well as Le Quai Des Brumes (Port of Shadows), one of director Marcel Carné's classics of poetic realism.
Flooded with offers from Hollywood, for a time Gabin turned them all down until the outbreak of World War II. Following the German occupation of France, he joined Jean Renoir and Julien Duvivier in the United States. Divorced from his second wife in 1939, during his time in Hollywood, Gabin began a torrid romance with actress Marlene Dietrich. However, his films in America - Moontide (1942) and The Impostor (1944), the later reuniting him with Duvivier) - were not successful.
A difficult personality, he did serious damage to his Hollywood career while working for RKO Pictures. Scheduled to star in an RKO film, at the last minute he demanded Dietrich be given the co-starring role. The studio refused. After Gabin remained steadfast in his demand, he was fired, and the film project was shelved.
Undaunted, Jean Gabin joined General Charles de Gaulle's Free French Forces and earned the Médaille militaire and a Croix de guerre for his wartime valor fighting with the Allies in North Africa. Following D-Day, Gabin was part of the military contingent that entered a liberated Paris.
In 1946, Gabin was hired by Marcel Carné to star in the film, Les Portes de la Nuit, but his conduct got him fired again. He then found a French producer and director willing to cast him and Marlene Dietrich together, but their film Martin Roumagnac was not a success and their personal relationship soon ended. Following another box office failure in 1947, Gabin returned to the stage, but there too, the production was another financial disaster. Nevertheless, he was cast in the lead role of the 1949 René Clément film Au-Delà Des Grilles that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Despite this recognition, the film did not do well at the French box office, and the next five years brought little more than repeated box office failures.
Gabin and Jacques Prévert in 1961.
Gabin's career seemed headed for oblivion. However, he made a comeback in the 1954 film, Touchez pas au grisbi (Don't Touch the Loot). Directed by Jacques Becker, his performance earned him critical acclaim, and the film was a very profitable international success. Later, he worked once again with Jean Renoir in French Cancan, with María Félix and Françoise Arnoul. Over the next twenty years, Gabin made close to 50 more films, most of them very successful commercially and critically, including many for Gafer Films, his production partnership with fellow actor Fernandel.
His co-stars included leading figures of post-war cinema such as Brigitte Bardot (En cas de malheur), Alain Delon (Le Clan des Siciliens, Mélodie en sous-sol and Deux hommes dans la ville), Jean-Paul Belmondo (Un singe en hiver) and Louis de Funès (Le Tatoué).
Gabin died of leukaemia at the American Hospital of Paris, in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine. His body was cremated and with full military honours, his ashes were dispersed into the sea from a military ship.
Considered one of the great stars of French cinema, he was made a member of the Légion d'honneur. The Musée Jean Gabin in his native town, Mériel, contains his story and features, his war and film memorabilia.
Maintenant Je Sais
Jean Gabin Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
J'parlais bien fort pour être un homme
J'disais, JE SAIS, JE SAIS, JE SAIS, JE SAIS
C'était l'début, c'était l'printemps
Mais quand j'ai eu mes 18 ans
J'ai dit, JE SAIS, ça y est, cette fois JE SAIS
J'regarde la terre où j'ai quand même fait les 100 pas
Et je n'sais toujours pas comment elle tourne !
Vers 25 ans, j'savais tout : l'amour, les roses, la vie, les sous
Tiens oui l'amour ! J'en avais fait tout le tour !
Et heureusement, comme les copains, j'avais pas mangé tout mon pain :
Au milieu de ma vie, j'ai encore appris.
C'que j'ai appris, ça tient en trois, quatre mots :
"Le jour où quelqu'un vous aime, il fait très beau,
J'peux pas mieux dire, il fait très beau !
C'est encore ce qui m'étonne dans la vie,
Moi qui suis à l'automne de ma vie
On oublie tant de soirs de tristesse
Mais jamais un matin de tendresse !
Toute ma jeunesse, j'ai voulu dire JE SAIS
Seulement, plus je cherchais, et puis moins j' savais
Il y a 60 coups qui ont sonné à l'horloge
Je suis encore à ma fenêtre, je regarde, et j'm'interroge ?
Maintenant JE SAIS, JE SAIS QU'ON NE SAIT JAMAIS !
La vie, l'amour, l'argent, les amis et les roses
On ne sait jamais le bruit ni la couleur des choses
C'est tout c'que j'sais ! Mais ça, j'le SAIS... !
The song Maintenant je sais by Jean Gabin talks about the journey of life and how our perception of knowledge changes as we go through different phases of life. In the beginning, as a kid, the singer thought they knew everything and would loudly proclaim that they knew. As they grew older, they thought they knew more things, even about things like love and money. However, as the singer progressed in life, they realized how much they did not know about life, especially the unpredictability of it. The singer reflects on the joys and sorrows of life, the unpredictability of nature, the beauty of love, and the fact that we may never fully grasp the workings of the world.
The song is both a reflection of Gabin's own life experiences and a commentary on life in general. It portrays the idea that learning is a lifelong process, and we are constantly growing and evolving in our understanding of the world around us. The lyrics encourage humility and the acknowledgment that no matter how much we think we know, there will always be something new to learn.
Line by Line Meaning
Quand j'étais gosse, haut comme trois pommes, J'parlais bien fort pour être un homme J'disais, JE SAIS, JE SAIS, JE SAIS, JE SAIS
When I was young and little, I tried to act like a grown man, shouting 'I know, I know, I know'
C'était l'début, c'était l'printemps Mais quand j'ai eu mes 18 ans J'ai dit, JE SAIS, ça y est, cette fois JE SAIS
At the beginning, it was springtime. But when I turned 18, I thought 'I know, this time for sure, I know'
Et aujourd'hui, les jours où je m'retourne J'regarde la terre où j'ai quand même fait les 100 pas Et je n'sais toujours pas comment elle tourne !
And now, when I look back on my life, I realize that I've walked the Earth many times, but I still don't know how it spins
Vers 25 ans, j'savais tout : l'amour, les roses, la vie, les sous Tiens oui l'amour ! J'en avais fait tout le tour !
At around 25, I thought I knew everything there was to know: about love, about money, about life, and, oh yes, about love. I thought I had seen and experienced it all
Et heureusement, comme les copains, j'avais pas mangé tout mon pain : Au milieu de ma vie, j'ai encore appris. C'que j'ai appris, ça tient en trois, quatre mots : 'Le jour où quelqu'un vous aime, il fait très beau, J'peux pas mieux dire, il fait très beau !
Luckily, like my friends, I hadn't exhausted my opportunities yet; I still had things to learn at the midpoint of my life. And what I learned can be boiled down to three or four words: 'The day when someone loves you is a very beautiful day. I can't stress enough how beautiful it is'
C'est encore ce qui m'étonne dans la vie, Moi qui suis à l'automne de ma vie On oublie tant de soirs de tristesse Mais jamais un matin de tendresse !
It's still one thing that surprises me about life, even though I'm in the autumn of my life. We forget so many sad nights, but we never forget a morning of tenderness
Toute ma jeunesse, j'ai voulu dire JE SAIS Seulement, plus je cherchais, et puis moins j' savais
All my youth, I wanted to say 'I know'. But the more I searched, the less certain I became
Il y a 60 coups qui ont sonné à l'horloge Je suis encore à ma fenêtre, je regarde, et j'm'interroge ? Maintenant JE SAIS, JE SAIS QU'ON NE SAIT JAMAIS !
60 strikes of the clock have sounded. I'm still at my window, looking out and wondering. But now I know that one thing we can be sure of is that we never know for sure
La vie, l'amour, l'argent, les amis et les roses On ne sait jamais le bruit ni la couleur des choses C'est tout c'que j'sais ! Mais ça, j'le SAIS... !
Life, love, money, friends, and roses. We never know the sound or the color of anything. That's all I know. But I'm sure of that
Contributed by Joseph L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.