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distance from it, we are not at all sure we entirely approve of it or of its telling. Its editing could have been smoother—which is another way of saying that Renoir jerks his camera, jumps a bit too quickly from scene to scene, doesn't always make clear why his people are behaving as they do. But sitting here is not quite the same as sitting in the theatre watching it. There we were conscious only of constant interest and absorption tinged with horror and an uncomfortable sense of dread. And deep down, of course, ungrudged admiration for Renoir's ability to seduce us into such a mood, for the performances which preserved it.
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308:, Lantier goes to his aunt's nearby village. He tells her he no longer has the attacks of violence, but then has one when he meets Flore, an attractive young woman he knew as a little girl. The two walk and sit beside the railway, but as they embrace, his hands tighten on her neck, and he is stopped from strangling her only by the distracting roar of a passing train. Knowing of his condition, she forgives him.
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revenge. They arrange to be aboard the same train as
Grandmorin; Roubaud and Séverine go to his compartment and Roubaud stabs the man to death. However, while in the corridor between compartments, they meet Lantier, who is a passenger on the same train. With Roubaud's encouragement, Séverine asks Lantier not to tell the police what he knows, and the murder is pinned on a habitual criminal, Cabouche.
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Pecqeaux. Although
Pecqeaux is understanding of his actions, Lantier is unable to live with the grief. Out on the main line, he attacks Pecqeaux in a fit of despair, then leaps from the moving train to his death. After safely stopping the engine and walking back to Lantier's body, Pecqeaux remarks
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Roubaud, the deputy stationmaster at Le Havre, is married to Séverine, who formerly worked for her wealthy godfather
Grandmorin. Roubaud now accuses her of once having had an affair with Grandmorin, and she confirms that he took advantage of her. Roubaud demands that she be present as he takes his
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Lantier is unable to carry out an attack on
Roubaud, but when Séverine at her home tells Lantier that she will leave Roubaud, he agrees to try again. Just then, the couple hear a noise and think that Roubaud is approaching. Lantier then has one of his seizures and kills Séverine. Returning to his
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It is hardly a pretty picture, dealing as it does with a man whose tainted blood subjects him to fits of homicidal mania, with a woman of warped childhood who shares her husband's guilty secret of murder... It is simply a story; a macabre, grim and oddly-fascinating story. Sitting here, a safe
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Afterwards, Séverine and
Roubaud are both haunted by the murder in different ways, and Séverine turns to Lantier for comfort. Meeting in secret during a rainstorm, their passion is suggested by an overflowing rain barrel as they begin an affair. Roubaud has lapsed into depression following the
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again, and hired him instead of Grémillon. Renoir eventually wrote the script over a period of eight to fifteen days. (Renoir said it took him twelve days in the introduction to the movie). After its completion, Renoir read the screenplay to Gabin's producer
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Lantier is a railway engine driver obsessively tied to his locomotive, in part because his work distracts him from recurring headaches and violent rages that happen when he is with a woman and become worse when he drinks. During a stop for repairs in
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Renoir confessed that at the time when he wrote the screenplay, he had not read Zola's novel in over 25 years: "While I was shooting, I kept modifying the scenario, bringing it closer to Zola ... the dialogue which I gave
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is partially set "on a train that may be thought of as one of the main characters in the film." Although generally listed as a romantic drama, it is sometimes considered a precursor to the
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is almost entirely copied from Zola's text. Since I was working at top speed, I'd re-read a few pages of Zola every night, to make sure I wasn't overlooking anything."
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Comes to 55th Street as a Somber and
Powerful French Film by Jean Renoir," February 20, 1940. Last accessed: December 30, 2007.
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murder; Séverine tells
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Bogdonovitch, Peter. Interview on special features of the
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a positive review even though he felt uncomfortable watching the film, writing:
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wanted to star in a film about locomotives and wrote a screenplay called
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that
Lantier now looks more peaceful than he had for a long time.
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information site and DVD review at DVD Beaver (includes images)
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Filming commenced on August 12, 1938, with exteriors on the
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locomotive for another run to Paris, he confesses to his
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Louis Lumière / conversation avec
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492:. The film's sets were designed by the
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37:Theatrical release poster
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1194:French crime drama films
672:(2nd ed. 2005) pp 30–31.
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651:film review, "Zola's
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1090:The Elusive Corporal
765:Criterion Collection
549:Venice Film Festival
425:as Le garde-barrière
371:as Victoire Pecqueux
362:as Le fils Dauvergne
173:Paris Films Location
1244:Films shot in Paris
1082:Picnic on the Grass
915:Chotard and Company
649:The New York Times,
486:Billancourt Studios
344:as Séverine Roubaud
248:) is a 1938 French
1239:Films set in Paris
1234:1930s French films
1133:Alain Renoir (son)
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963:La Grande Illusion
939:Life Belongs to Us
727:TCM Movie Database
518:The New York Times
338:as Jacques Lantier
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508:Critical response
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124:Curt Courant
106:Simone Simon
92:Robert Hakim
995:Swamp Water
875:Sound films
817:Jean Renoir
626:Jean Renoir
543:Nominations
462:Jean Renoir
410:as Pecqueux
402:Jean Renoir
257:Jean Renoir
207:100 minutes
84:Produced by
56:Jean Renoir
47:Jean Renoir
43:Directed by
1179:1938 films
1173:Categories
891:La Chienne
556:References
436:Jean Gabin
431:Production
404:as Cabuche
350:as Roubaud
336:Jean Gabin
281:Émile Zola
265:Jean Gabin
253:drama film
236:(English:
190:1938-12-23
162:Paris Film
155:Production
102:Jean Gabin
78:Émile Zola
74:1890 novel
1042:The River
848:Marquitta
538:Accolades
503:Reception
293:film noir
130:Edited by
16:1938 film
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716:AllMovie
356:as Flore
306:Le Havre
220:Language
144:Music by
98:Starring
63:Based on
1109:Related
864:Le Bled
781:YouTube
763:at the
725:at the
322:fireman
295:genre.
259:, with
212:Country
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1101:(1970)
1093:(1962)
1085:(1959)
1077:(1959)
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931:Toni
840:Nana
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329:Cast
299:Plot
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279:by
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