La bête humaine (1938)

Director:

Jean Renoir

Writer:

Émile Zola (novel)

Release Date:

19 February 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Strawberry | Betting | Rain | Cafe | St Lazare France

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Jean Gabin	...	Jacques Lantier
Simone Simon	...	Séverine Roubaud
Fernand Ledoux	...	Roubaud (as Ledoux Sociétaire de la Comédie Française)
Blanchette Brunoy	...	Flore
Gérard Landry	...	Le fils Dauvergne (as Gerard Landry)
Jenny Hélia	...	Philomène Sauvagnat (as Jenny Helia)
Colette Régis	...	Victoire Pecqueux (as Colette Regis)
Claire Gérard	...	Une voyageuse (as Claire Gerard)
Charlotte Clasis	...	Tante Phasie, la marraine de Lantier (as Germaine Clasis)
Jacques Berlioz	...	Grandmorin (as Berlioz)
Tony Corteggiani	...	Dabadie, le chef de section (as Cortegianni)
André Tavernier	...	Le juge d'instruction Denizet
Marcel Pérès	...	Un lampiste (as Perez)
Jean Renoir	...	Cabuche
Julien Carette	...	Pecqueux (as Carette)

Also Known As:

Judas Was a Woman (UK)
The Human Beast

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Spain:18 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Campagne normande, Seine-Maritime, France

Company:

Paris Film

Movie Connections:

Featured in Jean Renoir: Part One - From La Belle Époque to World War II (1993) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Le coeur de Ninon

A Link With Hollywood and American Film Noir

"La Bete Humaine" is many things------an excellent film version of an Emile Zola novel; an outstanding (if little known) work by the famous French film director, Jean Renoir; a movie that captures memorable performances by its very capable cast; probably the greatest movie to use real trains as an essential plot device ever made; and a superbly photographed drama that holds your interest from beginning to end.

But perhaps the most critical claim this movie can make is to define the basic text of the film noir femme fatale role that was to become such an important aspect of Hollywood's most innovative creations of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Simone Simon's Severine Roubaud can and should be seen as the precursor of such similar characters as Jane Greer's Kathie Moffett in the film noir classic "Out of the Past (1947)" almost ten years later. Both are highly complex characters with dangerous sexuality and a totally amoral view of life. Both make it very difficult to distinguish between truth and fiction in what they say to us. Simone Simon plays the Jean Gabin character like a well-tuned musical instrument-----and Jane Greer's Kathie is no less successful in manipulating Robert Mitchum's character. Both are beautiful, childlike at times, feminine at other times, very different than what they seem to be, seductive to an extreme and in the end---destined to experience the consequences of a life not well lived.

"La Bete Humaine" can be enjoyed on its own terms as a seminal example of great French film drama of the 1930s. However, its more important message is to give us an early illustration of the origins of Hollywood film noir's femme fatale.

Next time you wonder where all those deadly dangerous female predators came from in American film noir, check out "La Bete Humaine." For fans of the genre, it should definitely be on your must-see list.