LA BETE HUMAINE Movie Review

The Human Beast

Jean Renoir's La Bete Humaine (The Human Beast) stars Jean Gabin as railroad engineer Jacques Lantier, a man whose deep-seated hatred of women—and unresolved resentment over inheriting his parents' alcoholism—produces in him a periodic, uncontrollable compulsion to kill. His bitter life takes a new turn when he falls in love with a railroad executive's wife (Simone Simon); but frustrated over her marital status, he makes plans to murder her husband. La Bete Humaine is based on Emile Zola's novel, and it remains one of the bleakest and most despairing visions Renoir has given us. Visually, the movie is a triumph of powerful, realistic imagery; Renoir's experiments with deep-focus cinematography bring a startling immediacy to the drama (it's a technique that would be further experimented with three years later by Orson Welles and cinematographer Gregg Toland in Citizen Kane). These deep-focus images allow the viewer to more freely select what or who he's going to look at within a frame, imparting a more open and naturalistic quality to the action. Much of La Bete Humaine is set on trains, and Renoir's evocative location photography—particularly in the celebrated opening sequence of the train's Paris to Le Harve run—remains indelible in the memories of those who've seen it. As usual, Gabin is a wonder, as is Simon as the seductive wife. (Look for Renoir himself playing a poacher.)

NEXT STOP … La Chienne, The Crime of Monsieur Lange, The Lower Depths (1936)

1938 90m/B FR Jean Gabin, Simone Simon, Julien Carette, Fernand Ledoux; D: Jean Renoir; W: Jean Renoir; C: Curt Courant; M: Joseph Cosma. VHS, 8mm NOS, HHT, CAB