La Bête Humaine (film)

Infobox_Film
name = La Bête Humaine


caption = Theatrical poster
director = Jean Renoir
producer = Raymond Hakim Robert Hakim
writer = Story: Emile Zola Screenplay: Jean Renoir Dialogue: Denise Leblond
starring = Jean Gabin Simone Simon
music = Joseph Kosma
cinematography = Curt Courant
editing = Suzanne de Troeye Marguerite Renoir
distributor =
released = France: December 23 1938 United States: February 19 1940
runtime = 100 minutes
country = France
language = French
budget =
amg_id = 1:27862
imdb_id = 0029957|

"La Bête Humaine" (English: "The Human Beast" and "Judas Was a Woman") (1938) is a film directed by Jean Renoir, with cinematography by Curt Courant. The picture features Jean Gabin, and is based on the novel of the same name by Emile Zola. [imdb title|id=0029957|title=La bête humaine.]

The drama is partially set "on a train that may be thought of as one of the main characters in the film." [Bogdonovitch, Peter. Interview on special features of the Criterion Collection imprint.]

Plot

The story tells of train engineer Jacques Lantier (Jean Gabin) who lusts after Séverine Roubaud (Simone Simon), the wife of his co-worker Roubaud (Fernand Ledoux).

Roubaud, discovers that his young wife, Séverine, has been seduced by her godfather, the wealthy Grandmorin. Jealous, Roubaud forces Séverine to assist in the murder of Grandmorin during a train journey. The murder is witnessed by a railway worker, Jacques Lantier, but he keeps quiet because he is in love with Séverine. Disgusted by what her husband has done, Séverine has an affair with Lantier and pleads with him to kill her cruel husband. Little does she know that Lantier also has a dark secret. The railway worker is subject to fits which have the capacity to transform him into a pathological killer... Lantier kills Séverine and then commits suicide.

Cast

* Jean Gabin as Jacques Lantier
* Simone Simon as Séverine Roubaud
* Fernand Ledoux as Roubaud (as Ledoux Sociétaire de la Comédie Française)
* Blanchette Brunoy as Flore
* Gérard Landry as Le fils Dauvergne
* Jenny Hélia as Philomène Sauvagnat
* Colette Régis as Victoire Pecqueux
* Claire Gérard as Une voyageuse
* Charlotte Clasis as Tante Phasie, la marraine de Lantier
* Jacques Berlioz as Grandmorin
* Tony Corteggiani as Dabadie, le chef de section
* André Tavernier as Le juge d'instruction Denizet
* Marcel Pérès as Un lampiste
* Jean Renoir as Cabuche
* Julien Carette as Pecqueux

Critical reception

Frank S. Nugent, film critic for "The New York Times," gave the film a positive review even though he felt uncomfortable watching the film. He wrote, "It is hardly a pretty picture, dealing as it does with a man whose tainted blood subjects him to fits of homicidal mania, with a woman of warped childhood who shares her husband's guilty secret of murder...It is simply a story; a macabre, grim and oddly-fascinating story. Sitting here, a safe distance from it, we are not at all sure we entirely approve of it or of its telling. Its editing could have been smoother—which is another way of saying that Renoir jerks his camera, jumps a bit too quickly from scene to scene, doesn't always make clear why his people are behaving as they do. But sitting here is not quite the same as sitting in the theatre watching it. There we were conscious only of constant interest and absorption tinged with horror and an uncomfortable sense of dread. And deep down, of course, ungrudged admiration for Renoir's ability to seduce us into such a mood, for the performances which preserved it." [ [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=9F0CE3D91F3EE23ABC4851DFB466838B659EDE&oref=slogin Nugent, Frank S] . "The New York Times," film review, "Zola's "The Human Beast" Comes to 55th Street as a Somber and Powerful French Film by Jean Renoir," February 20 1940. Last accessed: December 30 2007.]

Adaptations

In 1954 director Fritz Lang remade the picture as "Human Desire," a "film noir" featuring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Broderick Crawford, among others. [imdb title|id=0047101|title=Human Desire.]

Awards

Nominations
* Venice Film Festival: Mussolini Cup, Best Film, Jean Renoir; 1939.

References

Notes

External links

*
*
* [http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/54/labete.htm "La Bête Humaine"] at Bright Lights Film Journal
* [http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews20/la_bete_humaine_dvd_review.htm "La Bête Humaine"] at DVD Beaver, includes images
* [http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=324&eid=462&section=essay "La Bête Humaine"] essay at Criterion Collection by Geoffrey O'Brien