#La bete humaine

[rhera]

PART I - PART II - PART III

— Love in The Afternoon (1957) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) La Bête Humaine (1938) The Conformist (1970) The Pirate (1948) Marriage Italian Style (1964) The Devil Is a Woman (1935) Clue (1985) The Hunger (1983) Swing Time (1936)

[filmnoirfoundation]

The print edition of NOIR CITY Magazine is now available from Amazon.com.

What do Viola Lawrence, William Friedkin, Morris Lipsius, Rose Glass, Peter Lorre, Kyle MacLachlan, Jean Gabin, "The Lady from Shanghai", "Cruising", "Finger Man", "D.O.A.", and "Love Lies Bleeding" all have in common? They are all discussed in the latest issue of NOIR CITY, the world’s greatest magazine devoted to our favorite subject, film noir.

[the-best-of-letterboxd]

La Bete Humaine (1938)

[zielenna]

Lacking independent means, and consumed by needs which could not be met from his meagre salary, he lived in that total dependence upon the poorly paid office of magistrate to which the mediocre are resigned and in which the intelligent eat their hearts out, as they await an opportunity to sell themselves.

Émile Zola, La Bête humaine, transl. Roger Pearson

[doppleganger-rental]

'La Bete Humaine' by Jean Renoir (1938)

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | Human Desire (Lang, 1954)

La Bete Humaine opens with a very vivid sequence of a train running at full steam ahead, coal being shoveled into the engine, like you’re wolfing down spicy food that somehow gets spicier every bite. That’s how I felt when I was downing a mutton roti last night. It was like my esophagus was on fire. 

The opening of Human Desire, which is based on the same Emile Zola novel (which I have not read, so I cannot attest to either movie’s faithfulness to the source), is similar but perhaps less vivid. But otherwise I found Fritz Lang’s direction more engaging than Jean Renoir’s, likely because it was more in the tradition of film noir proper and as such has the expectedly heavy doses of light and shadow and all those wonderful things. 

But I also found myself more engaged by the central relationship in the Lang movie. I should concede that I put it on after a long day and even longer week at work and as such was prone to zoning out, but no matter how much Simone Simon glowed under the lighting or how feline the twinkle in her eye was, I could not myself to care about her relationship with Jean Gabin. Also, there’s a lot of dodgy rear projection in the movie, which I probably would have excused if I had been more drawn in otherwise.

Gloria Grahame and Glenn Ford play those roles respectively, and like in The Big Heat, I think Lang finds interesting ways to use their presences. Grahame’s girlishness once again hides her wounds and capacity for darkness. Ford’s upstanding demeanour is subverted less forcefully than in The Big Heat, and he lacks Gabin’s violent tendencies with are instead transplanted to Grahame’s husband Broderick Crawford. (One of the Italian posters features Crawford lumbering in the background, like a Tor Johnson monster movie.) All of this probably makes this a less transgressive take on the story than the Renoir, although Lang throw a wrench into things by comparing Ford’s experience killing in war with his reluctance to do it up close. For the record, I agree with Ford that murder is WRONG. 

Anyway, it wouldn’t be a film noir review without me getting thirsty, and I gotta say that Kathleen Case in that one scene wearing a floral robe and with a flower in her hair was really doing it for me.

[sunlitroom]

I was tagged by the cultured and dapper @rhavewellyarnbag. Thank-you! :)

Last song:  Marlene on the Wall by Suzanne Vega. I'm enjoying nostalgically revisiting all the favourites of my early teens - so there's been a lot of Suzanne Vega, Alanis Morissette, and Lisa Loeb

Current book stack: It's honestly shamefully long. There's an unread Maigret, some Greek plays, La Bete Humaine... the list goes on. It bothers me how hard it is to read right now - but I'm knackered after work.

Last film: I watched two very excellent films over Christmas which both deserve a mention: The Long Good Friday and Double Indemnity. I'll get back to watching more films after I recover from the slap in the face that is back to the working routine.

The Long Good Friday is a late 70s/early 80s film full of British and Irish actors that you'll likely recognise from other things. It's hard and unsparing and as far from mawkish Richard Curtis-esque British films as you can get.

Despite enjoying noir, I'd somehow not seen Double Indemnity, which is recognised as the example of the genre. I enjoyed it and will watch it again just to see Barton Keyes, who is wonderful.

I've actually just put one of the old Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films on because it's a stormy night and perfect for it.

Last show:  I'm dragging Succession out for as long as it will go. I need to go back to Justified.

Current obsession:  I'm currently flitting between them. I'm not sure anything has grabbed me as hard as Gotham did in a while.

I tag, should they wish to play, @countess--olenska, @lalaurelia, @shadow-waterglow, @miraclemaggie, @kenobiwaned, @bunchofasholes, and anyone else who wants to play

[barkingbonzo]

Simone Simon

Diminutive, fiery-tempered Simone Simon was born in France, but spent much of her early childhood in Madagascar, where her father managed a graphite mine. Her schooling was somewhat unsettled, her family moving from city to city (Berlin, Budapest, Turin) before finally establishing themselves in Paris in 1930. Simone started as a dress designer, fashion model and occasional performer in stage musicals. She eventually met the director Marc Allégret, who took her under his wing. Her film debut was in 1931 and she had her first major hit as Jean Gabin's co-star in The Human Beast (1938), directed by Jean Renoir.

There were two halves to Simone's history in Hollywood. In 1936, Darryl F. Zanuck signed her to a contract at 20th Century Fox on the strength of a picture she had made two years earlier, Allegret's Ladies Lake (1934). She was launched with an expensive publicity campaign which accentuated her continental allure, particularly, her 'sexy pout'. During her tenure, problems surfaced regarding her command of English and also her limited singing skills. Dissatisfied with the roles she was given, Simone returned to France and 'La Bete Humaine'. She made a second attempt at Hollywood, acting in William Dieterle's The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) as Belle, the devil's handmaiden. The New York Times review of October 17 considered her 'completely out of key'. Simone's best work, however, was to come in the shape of the cult horror classic Cat People (1942). Producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur used her triangular-faced feline qualities to best effect in the story of a girl who obsesses about an ancient Balkan curse turning her into a panther. The film was stylish and subtle, creating imagined rather than actual menace. Simone's performance was commensurate with perfectly studied cat-like mannerisms. During the production of 'Cat People', Simone was under FBI surveillance because of her relationship with MI5 spy Dusko Popov. She made two further, less successful, films at RKO, then returned to France for good. Simone made several films there and worked on the stage. In spite of many affairs and relationships, she never married.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: I.S.Mowis

[sir-squalrus]

Jean Gabin- holy fuck this guy fucking rules

I am not an "old movie" person by any means. I have never tried to write a review or summary of a movie, period. I just feel very moved by these movies. Gabin's face. Dude. DUUUUDE. I feel like I was fucking robbed. 34 years I've gone without ever seeing these, and even the worst of them (moontide) was worth my time.

Thank you to my best friend, who has slowly over the last few years been showing me dozens of older films. Including all of these in just 3 or4 IRL sessions. @itslucyhenley TYVM for being the best human I know.

Gabin has a face I could watch forever. He is so fucking cool. Like, I used to think Bogart was the coolest, baddest old movie dude around.

Gabin gives him a serious run. I am stunned.

Grand Illusion 1937- This one really blew me away. The strong anti war commentary. The subtle gay love story. the humor and horror. Stunning.

Pepe Le Moko 1937- fucking tragic. but funny. Loved it. Also apparently responsible for pepe le pew existing. 

La Bete Humaine 1938- This felt so modern. Like the prototype of noir, but also a formula for future serial killer stories. It was fucked up, but the camera work and bleak transitions form daylight to all dark and brooding shadows really worked so well. The train itself felt like a fully developed character.

Port of Shadows 1938- Are these French people okay? Also I feel like bands like The Smiths and My Chemical Romance would not have existed without this movie lol. LOVED IT.

Le Jour Se Leve (Daybreak) 1939- Jesus. These French folks are not okay at all. Bleak. Gorgeous. Fucked up.

Moontide 1942- MEH. Weird movie, but Gabin was so cool in it. The only movie of his I have seen that feels like a a straight up romance/drama with a lot of comedy mixed in.

Touchez pas au grisbi 1954- cool as fuck heist-adjacent movie. God I loved this. Gabin at his absolute coolest for me.

French Cancan 1955- loved this night club comedy/drama. The color was so gorgeous and the art within the movie on the walls etc. felt like an extension of the characters themselves. I laughed, I cried, I got up and legit danced. Absolute BLAST of a flick.

[gatutor]

Simone Simon-Fernand Ledoux "La bestia humana" (La bete humaine) 1938, de Jean Renoir.

[incensemaniac]

double sampling today with byredo la tulipe and liquides imaginaires bete humaine.. both are actually really nice. byredo has a similar orange juicy kind of dna in most of their perfumes which throws me off .. liquides imaginaires is a pretty odd house to me but i like some of their stuff

[christafaust]

Day 3 of #NoirCityHollywood Evening Edition: Another Railroad Noir double bill! https://christafaust.com/noir-city-hollywood-the-home-game-la-bete-humaine-and-human-desire/

[qu-film-history-to-1968]

The French film industry and rising populism. (Franco Morgante)

The time period between 1939-1945 had been a very impactful time for France as WWII was going on and they had been under occupation from Nazi Germany for a majority of the time. These real-world events lead to a change in content in the French film industry. A quote from an article by Georges Sadoul highlights a key topic that affected this new film landscape, he says “Certain economic factors favored the pursuit of the renaissance of French cinema” (Sadoul, page 235). Economic factors had affected the entire world during this time so there were a lot of frustrations amongst the working class as the rich seemed to do fine, but they are living in dire times. This is most likely what the film The Rules of the Game is going to be about, as it seems to be a satire of the French upper class and how out of touch they are from reality.

The working-class resentment of this era is commented on in an article Naomi Green, where she writes “Probably the most important change wrought in film during these years involves the populist inspiration so central to 1930s films (one thinks of the films of Clair, of Renoir's Le Crime de M. Lange or even La Bete humaine) and even to the very notion of "poetic realism” (Green, page 441). Populism was very popular around this time, so I expect many of the stories around this time to have some kind of pro-working-class message. But I wonder how Le Corbeau is going to fit into this theme, which seems to be about the population of a town being blackmailed by someone. Maybe it could even have an anti-populist message to go against the grain of the time, but I don’t know how likely that will be. But I look forward to seeing how these films reflect the mindset of the French population of the time.

  Sources:

Hollywood Quarterly, Spring, 1950, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Spring, 1950), pp. 233-244, University of California Press, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1209394

The French Review , Feb., 1986, Vol. 59, No. 3 (Feb., 1986), pp. 437-445, American Association of Teachers of French, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1209394

[prof-marvolius]

Críptido del día: Abonesi

Descripción: Bernard Heuvelmans describió una pequeña criatura homínida llamada Abonesi en su libro "Les betes humaines d'Afrique". Reportados en las regiones del norte de Togo, los describió como habitantes del bosque con cabello largo y oscuro. Especuló que podría tratarse de una población relicta de Australopithecus.

[lemagcinema]

La Bête de Bertrand Bonello

Un film de Bertrand Bonello Avec: Léa Seydoux, George MacKay, Guslagie MalandaDans un futur proche où règne l’intelligence artificielle, les émotions humaines sont devenues une menace. Pour s’en débarrasser, Gabrielle doit purifier son ADN en replongeant dans ses vies antérieures. Elle y retrouve Louis, son grand amour. Mais une peur l’envahit, le pressentiment qu’une catastrophe se prépare.

Retrouvez l'article complet ici https://lemagcinema.fr/microcritique/la-bete-de-bertrand-bonello/

[lastchancevillagegreen]

The Assommoir (1877) Émile Zola (472 pages)

The title is the name of the bar that becomes our heroine’s downfall.  This is easily Zola’s best book thus far (and I’ve yet to read what are heralded as his best, La Bete Humaine, Germinal and The Debacle) and easily his most depressing.  Horrible things happen in this novel: men kick their wives to death and flog their children with bull whips, 14 year olds become prostitutes, and alcohol destroys everyone.  The language is shocking (liberal use of the F-word and other words you don’t anticipate showing up in late 19th century literature) and Zola opens the novel with an introduction saying, “my crime is to have had the literary curiosity to gather the language of the common people and present it in a carefully fashioned mould.  Yet there are dictionaries of this language, scholars study it and savour its richness and its powerful striking imagery.”  He claims not to worry about the rumors going on about his own debasement stating, “the novel will be my own defence. It is the work of truth, the first novel about the common people that does not lie.”  Zola certainly knew that most of his readers would never watch their life slide out of view and dance and drink and screw because there's nothing else to do.