1938: La bete humaine

La bete humaine (1938, Renoir) 8/10

In Grand Illusion and Boudu Saved From Drowning, French master Jean Renoir explored the tensions of class in modern society. In his 1938 proto-Noir La bete humaine, Renoir delves into the anthropological rather than the sociological.

From the film's opening shot, we know there is something different to this Renoir film than some of his earlier classics such as Grand Illusion and Boudu Saved From Drowning. As the credits end we are introduced to the blazing furnace of a speeding locomotive, which directly introduces us to ideas of danger and "playing with fire." Our first shot of legendary French actor Jean Gabin is not of a handsome and slick charming man, but a soot-filled and dirty face. The matinee charm of Pepe Le Moko is erased in an instant. In a few brief opening shots Renoir is able to demonstrate there is something unsettling, violent and dangerous about the film and the characters within it.

The film adapted from Emile Zola's novel tells the story of Jacques Lantier, a working-class engineer who becomes unknowingly involved in a sordid world of murder, crime and adultery. Forced by a broken axle to stop-over in the industrial city of Le Harve, Gabin visits his godmother at her quaint railside cottage. Her introductory remarks unsettle our notions of Gabin's character as ordinary. He suffers from outbursts of violence: a disease caused by generations of alcoholism and bad blood, which have seeped into his genes. We are witnesses to this shortly after when he unconciously strangles a potential lover ironically by the railroad.

Onboard a train back to Le Harve, he encounters Severine (Simone Simon) and her husband Robaud (Fernand Ledoux), the local stationmaster in Le Harve. The Robauds internal relationship is enshrouded in secrecy. They are an odd couple: the stout and aging grizzly stationmaster and the beautiful young femme fatale. As their secret lives lose their potent ability to masquerade, their relationship in its language and form alters. Robaud's emotional lust for vengence kicks in and he commits the heinous crime of murder upon Severine's "godfather". It is an interesting parallel to Lantier's godparent: she reveals secrets, while Severine's conceals them.

Lantier does not witness the crime, but witnesses the couple in the tight corridor around the time of the murder. He knows the couple are acting guiltily through Severine's eyes, but has fallen for her charms. The pair begin a torrid and intimate affair, which is based on Severine's desire to accumulate more and to control Lantier's actions. He tries to resist, yet her sexual charms are too alluring: resulting in consequential disaster for everybody involved.

Throughout the film, Renoir creates a moody, foreboding atmosphere that was highly influential in the establishment of the American Film Noir movement a few years later. Expressionistic lighting plays a crucial part in creating this atmosphere and is extremely effective in representing the sense of entrapment the characters begin to feel. This is primarly done by having the image of the window pane reflect on the walls when specific characters are in the shot. At times it almost appears to mirror the bars of a jail cell as do the pillars in the ball room dancing sequence. Gabin plays himself into Simone Simon's trap and cannot escape, thus resulting in her influence over him.

As with other elements in the film, Simone Simon is definitely a proto-Noir Femme Fatale figure repeatedly emasculating those she has a relationship with. She is a pathological liar who uses her sex to force men to do evil tasks at her bidding. When they are unable to do, they are seen as cowardly and effeminate. Note the scene in which Gabin tries to kill her husband Robaud with a metaphorically phallic lead pipe on the trainyard. When he is unable to do so due to his sympathy for Robaud's depression, he becomes impotent and unwanted by Simon who quickly finds a new lover to do her dirty work. Sex is Simon's instrument of power and we see her use it when her and Gabin copulate in the trainyard shed during a rain storm, which notes their tempetuous affair. Additionally, it is important to recognize that when Gabin is unable to kill Robaud, there are puddles on the ground, noting a symbolic end to any sort of fruitful relationship.

The train is also an important (and highly phallic) symbol in the film. Gabin gets most of his pleasure riding on the train, as he is in control. Yet, the first problem Gabin encounters is when the axle on his train breaks. An axle can control many things including steering and braking. It is due to the mechanical failure that he becomes involved in the seedy dealings of Robaud and Simon's Severine. Thus an uncontrolable fate guides his destiny from this point onwards. The train also represents violence and danger. Note the scene in which a young woman gently sails on a boat on a placid river, only to have nature disturbed by the fury of the locomotive. Train noises and sounds can be heard throughout the film at key points, which remind viewers of the danger and violence to come. Additionally, the colour black is also featured prominently, none so more strikingly then when Severine reveals her secret to Gabin (who already knows) when she is dressed all in black in a costume that could be considered funeral, or perhaps the start of a peverse marriage with her veil.

As with other Renoir films of the period class plays an integral part to the actions of the characters. The class status of Robaud is never fully presented and perhaps he could be considered bourgeoisie, but Severine certainly acts as though she is with her rampant materialism. The comment Robaud makes that 'nobody will suspect him and Severine of committing any crime' seems to point in the direction that he was at least considered a member of the bourgeoisie. Nevertheless, Severine seems to use working-class men such as Gabin's Lantier to do her bidding and the character of Cabuche (played by Renoir) is another working-class fellow who is treated indignantly and with suspiscion because of his class status.

Despite its iconic status being assured there are some glaring frailties in the film. Firstly, the soundtrack is at times so overly sappy and melodramatic, you would think you were watching a Hollywood romantic epic. Additionally, one of the first shots of Severine holding a kitten, while in retrospect ironic considering Simone Simon would later appear in Cat People, is lit in a fashion that isn't sensual, but rather viriginal and romantic. There are other moments throughout the film, which point to this and perhaps Renoir was experimenting with trying to find a focus for the film.The second complaint is the entire idea of Gabin's illness.

This was a period when eugenics was a prevalent idea, but there is never any reason given for his sudden attacks, or how they can be controlled other than generations of alcoholics producing bad genes being the source. The character of his godmother addresses some of the problems, but she brings up the subject in an off-putting way, which is designed to startle the audience, yet is never really fully realized. In creating the film Renoir omitted much of the melodrama of Zola's novel. With this in mind, Renoir could have easily done away with this element as well, which may have perhaps enhanced the picture had he changed Gabin's illness to perhaps an underlying rage from an unhappy childhood, which is brought about by specific actions.Although the film is great, this idea of why Gabin becomes the "human beast" is neither rounded or completely utilized in an appropriate manner.

It appears to me that Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari seems to be an influence here and perhaps Simone Simon is the Caligari figure with Gabin as the somnabulist Cesare who goes in a trance-like state. But even that explanation cannot decipher why Gabin chokes an earlier romantic interest in the film's opening half hour. It is the only truly haphazard element of the film and takes away from the grandness and brilliance of the rest of the film's 96 minutes.

Still, the picture is one of Renoir's best and one of the best and most influential of the period. Along with Carne's Port of Shadows, the film was instrumental in creating the atmosphere and mood necessary for Film Noir's success. This is not a major masterpiece in the same manner as Grand Illusion simply because of Renoir's inability to harness the potential of Zola's human beast element, which is essentially the crux of the film. Other than that element, the picture is superb with great performances from Gabin and Simon and is highly recommended as a minor masterpiece in the Renoir canon.

La bete humaine is available through Criterion.

Copyright 2006 8 ½ Cinematheque.