On 2010-07-24 Stephanie DePue, Carolina Beach, NC USA wrote: ´La Bete Humaine´ (1938). This classic black and white French film, a bleak drama on the grand scale, was directed by the legendary Jean Renoir (Jean Renoir 3-Disc Collector´s Edition (Whirlpool of Fate / Nana / Charleston Parade / La Marseillaise / The Doctor´s Horrible Experiment / The Elusive Corporal)), son of the world-famous, greatly loved painter Pierre Auguste Renoir, and was based on the lastingly popular novel of the same name, by admired French author Emile Zola, LaBete Humaine. It is set in the 1870´s, and centers on a love triangle among French railway workers. The magnetic Jean Gabin,Essential Art House: Le Jour se Lève,Pepe Le Moko - Criterion Collection,stars as Jacques Lantier, a train engineer who has seen Roubaux, (played by Fernand Ledoux of the Comedie Francaise), force his beautiful, childlike wife Severine Roubaux (Simone Simon) to help him murder her lover. But Lantier is keeping quiet about it, because he wants Severine for himself. Ultimately Lantier and Severine do become lovers and she starts nagging him to kill her murderous husband.
Renoir delivers some of the most beautifully photographed pictures of trains and train tracks, and rural France, ever seen, making striking, poetic, thematic use of the railroad. He paints the self-sufficient railroad community in memorable color for a black and white film. He draws from the very beautiful Simon a performance that helped define the femme fatale forever more, as well as defining forever more a woman who really loves her cat. Gabin is never less than hypnotic as the tragic Lantier, who, apparently, has inherited some sort of family mental illness, possibly, as we know now, a chemical dysfunction of the brain, and is subject to uncontrollable violent outbursts. Lantier´s inherited illness is truly the heart of the film. Personally, although all this is mentioned in a little preface to the film, I´m still not entirely sure what that´s supposed to be about, except that it is apparently the heart of the Zola book, with which I am not familiar. Nevertheless, although this film is less famous than some of Renoir´s others, it is certainly worth seeing for Renoir´s direction, and Gabin´s muscular performance.
. And summed up by saying Worth Seeing for Gabin´s Muscular, Magnetic Performance. Currently La Bete Humaine - Criterion Collection has an overall rating of 8 over 10.
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Curt Courant claimed Based on the classic Emile Zola novel, Jean Renoir´s La bete humaine was one of the legendary director´s greatest popular successes, tapping into the fatalism of a nation in despair. Jean Gabin´s emblematic portrayal of doomed train engineer Jacques Lantier granted him a permanent place in the hearts of his countrymen. Part poetic realism, part film noir, the film is a hard-boiled and suspenseful journey into the tormented psyche of a workingman. SPECIAL FEATURES: New, restored high-definition digital transfer of the original uncut version. Introduction to the film by Jean Renoir. New interview with director Peter Bogdanovich. Archival interviews with Renoir discussing his adaptation of Emile Zola´s novels, his process with actors, and directing actress Simone Simon. Gallery of on-set photographs and theatrical posters. Theatrical trailer. New and improved English subtitle translation. A booklet featuring writings by film critic Geoffrey O´Brien, historian Ginette Vincendeau, and production designer Eugene Lourie.
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