A few weeks ago, I reviewed Marcel Carné 1953 film, Thérèse Raquin, based one of Émile Zola's novels. There I said: 'Zola, like his naturalistic literary contemporaries--Jack London, Stephen Crane, and Frank Norris--saw man as a brute guided by naturalistic (social or environmental) forces beyond his power or control.' YET, this Renoir film, based on another Zola novel (part of the 20-novel Rougon-Macquart series), comes even closer to representing the naturalistic literary movement at the turn of the century, and I would place it high among Renoir's other famous French films of the 30s..
As the film opens, we see an engineer and his stoker maneuvering their fast train down the tracks and into Le Havre. The opening scenes show the tracks, tunnels, and bridges from an engineer's viewpoint and are some of the most impressive dynamic perspective shots ever seen on film.
After the train arrives at Le Havre, the engineer, Jacques Lantier (Jean Gabin) and his stoker, Pecqueux (Julien Carette), examine the engine and notice that a main axle is broken and has to be repaired. The repairs will take 36 hours, so Jacques decides to visit his godmother near Le Havre.
During his visit, we learn that he has had trouble with attacks involving sudden headaches, rage, and depression. He blames these attacks on the poisonous alcoholic debauchery that he inherited from his father and grandfather. When he finds an old girlfriend, Flore (Blanchette Brunoy), in the country, he attempts to make love to her on a hill by the train tracks. As he does this, he almost strangles her to death. But, he is suddenly stopped by a rapidly passing locomotive, which presumably brings him out of the blackout phase of one of his attacks. Flore, familiar with his condition, asks him if his behavior is the result of his problem. He tells her that his violent urges are beyond his control, again blaming it the hereditary poison that flows though his veins. Though Flore tells him she wants to marry him, he leaves her.
In the meantime, the film follows the problems of Le Havre's stationmaster, Roudaud (Fernand Ledoux), who had taken a formal complaint from one the passengers on his train even though the complaint was lodged against a VIP of the railroad and it could cost him his job. When he goes home to his young and much-too-beautiful wife, Séverine (Simone Simon), he asks her to travel to Paris with him and take the problem to her influential godfather, Grandmorin (Jacques Berlioz). She does this successfully. But, then Roudaud starts to question Séverine's relationship with him. His first thought is that she might be Grandmorin's daughter since her mother had worked for him as a maid at the time when she was born. If so, he thought, they might be coming into his money some day. Séverine seems genuinely shocked at the thought of being Groandmorin's daughter. However, after seeing a ring on Séverine's finger, which Grandmorin had bought her, the conversation between Roudaud and Simon suddenly changes from the thought that she could be his daughter to the accusation that she is his lover.
When Roudaud physically confronts her about this, she confesses that she has been his lover. The shame of being cuckolded by Séverine and Grandmorin immediately sets Roudaud's mind on the fact that he must be killed. He forces Simone to write Grandmorin a letter asking him to meet her in his compartment on the train from Paris to Le Havre. When Grandmorin does this, Roudaud and Séverine kill him and leave him in his compartment. Roulaud tells her that the murder will bind the two together forever. After the murder, they see Lantier in the train car's corridor. Fearing he may have witnessed something, Séverine talks to him on the train to deflect any suspicions.
When the train is stopped at the station and the body is found, the passengers are questioned about the murder. No one claims to have seen anything. But, during the questioning, the prolonged eye contact between Séverine and Lantier makes her suspicious that he knows something that he isn't telling. She then seduces Lantier so that if he knows anything he won't tell anyone.
Even though Lantier and Séverine have a sexual liaison in a railroad shed and they both proclaim their love for each other, neither can ultimately commit to loving each other, either because of a painfully abusive childhood (Séverine) or an indefinable inherited brutality (Lantier).
Although the debate of nature versus nurture on child development still continues today, it is not as dominant in discussions now as it was in the late 19th Century.
As the film opens, we see an engineer and his stoker maneuvering their fast train down the tracks and into Le Havre. The opening scenes show the tracks, tunnels, and bridges from an engineer's viewpoint and are some of the most impressive dynamic perspective shots ever seen on film.
After the train arrives at Le Havre, the engineer, Jacques Lantier (Jean Gabin) and his stoker, Pecqueux (Julien Carette), examine the engine and notice that a main axle is broken and has to be repaired. The repairs will take 36 hours, so Jacques decides to visit his godmother near Le Havre.
During his visit, we learn that he has had trouble with attacks involving sudden headaches, rage, and depression. He blames these attacks on the poisonous alcoholic debauchery that he inherited from his father and grandfather. When he finds an old girlfriend, Flore (Blanchette Brunoy), in the country, he attempts to make love to her on a hill by the train tracks. As he does this, he almost strangles her to death. But, he is suddenly stopped by a rapidly passing locomotive, which presumably brings him out of the blackout phase of one of his attacks. Flore, familiar with his condition, asks him if his behavior is the result of his problem. He tells her that his violent urges are beyond his control, again blaming it the hereditary poison that flows though his veins. Though Flore tells him she wants to marry him, he leaves her.
In the meantime, the film follows the problems of Le Havre's stationmaster, Roudaud (Fernand Ledoux), who had taken a formal complaint from one the passengers on his train even though the complaint was lodged against a VIP of the railroad and it could cost him his job. When he goes home to his young and much-too-beautiful wife, Séverine (Simone Simon), he asks her to travel to Paris with him and take the problem to her influential godfather, Grandmorin (Jacques Berlioz). She does this successfully. But, then Roudaud starts to question Séverine's relationship with him. His first thought is that she might be Grandmorin's daughter since her mother had worked for him as a maid at the time when she was born. If so, he thought, they might be coming into his money some day. Séverine seems genuinely shocked at the thought of being Groandmorin's daughter. However, after seeing a ring on Séverine's finger, which Grandmorin had bought her, the conversation between Roudaud and Simon suddenly changes from the thought that she could be his daughter to the accusation that she is his lover.
When Roudaud physically confronts her about this, she confesses that she has been his lover. The shame of being cuckolded by Séverine and Grandmorin immediately sets Roudaud's mind on the fact that he must be killed. He forces Simone to write Grandmorin a letter asking him to meet her in his compartment on the train from Paris to Le Havre. When Grandmorin does this, Roudaud and Séverine kill him and leave him in his compartment. Roulaud tells her that the murder will bind the two together forever. After the murder, they see Lantier in the train car's corridor. Fearing he may have witnessed something, Séverine talks to him on the train to deflect any suspicions.
When the train is stopped at the station and the body is found, the passengers are questioned about the murder. No one claims to have seen anything. But, during the questioning, the prolonged eye contact between Séverine and Lantier makes her suspicious that he knows something that he isn't telling. She then seduces Lantier so that if he knows anything he won't tell anyone.
Even though Lantier and Séverine have a sexual liaison in a railroad shed and they both proclaim their love for each other, neither can ultimately commit to loving each other, either because of a painfully abusive childhood (Séverine) or an indefinable inherited brutality (Lantier).
Although the debate of nature versus nurture on child development still continues today, it is not as dominant in discussions now as it was in the late 19th Century.