LA BÊTE HUMAINE
12:30
Thursday, July 28
Directed by Jean Renoir
Starring Jean Gabin
(1938) In an update of Zola’s classic, Simone Simon seeks help from trainman Gabin in bumping off her conniving husband — but her help’s a barely suppressed homicidal maniac himself. In French, with English subtitles. 35mm print imported from France especially for this series. Approx. 99 mins.
Reviews
“PRIMORDIAL FILM NOIR. [The modern railroad is] a harnessed menace of speed and noise which Renoir films with a primal exhilaration...Yet Renoir also proves himself to be his father’s son with his shimmering sketches of the French countryside and tenderly intimate portraits of its inhabitants—who, of course, are actors shrewdly cast.”
– Richard Brody, The New Yorker
“Superb performances from Gabin, Simon and Ledoux as the classic tragic love triangle.”
– Tom Milne, Time Out (London)
“Simply a story; a macabre, grim and oddly-fascinating story.”
– Frank S. Nugent, The New York Times