La Bete Humaine (1938)
The Gist:
La Bete Humaine is the fourth film in my current expedition of Renoir's filmography, and it settles itself just barely lacking the qualities of a masterpiece. I say this a criticism really, because the second half of the film achieves moments of such poetic depth that I have to shake my head and wonder why the whole film couldn't have been this way. I think, in the end, it's because the script is straight-jacketed by its source material. The set-up is well done, but lingers too long, going over details that are important to the book (the main characters mental disorder) but are ultimately unimportant in the grand scheme of the film's narrative. Specifically with the mental disorder, or whatever that really is, it shouldn't have been in this film. It seems like it's needed, but if you see the film imagine it had started with the scene on the train and then chose to prolong certain aspects of the romance. It works pretty well in my head, anyway, I'm just saying. Oh, I haven't really said what the film is about have I? It's about a guy who is enamored with a girl who is trapped in a marriage with a jealous murdering husband and then the guy and girl have an affair and the film goes from there. Well, that's sort of it anyway. I don't want to spoil anything but you (and by you I mean no one because I'm sure no one is reading this) should see it. It's a pretty damn good film with an absolutely beautiful final third of screen time.
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