Welcome to the wonderful world of Émile Zola, where everyone is mad, bad and/or dangerous to know! Part of the Rougon-Macquart series, La Bête Humaine tells the story of Jacques Lantier, a railway worker who comes from a wretched bloodline and struggles with a desire to kill women. I’ve been wanting to read the book for a long time, because you know, psychological thriller by Émile Zola, but alas the opportunity is yet to come and the adaptation by Jean Renoir became available to me, so I decided to watch it anyway. It’s a very well-made film: Renoir captures perfectly the atmosphere of the railroad, and all the actors are great in their roles, but throughout my viewing I just felt that something was off. The title, the subject matter, and Émile Zola’s writing in general, are aggressive, and I didn’t feel that at all in this movie. Then I read a summary for the book and realized why. So many things got left out! Flore’s character is butchered, an important (and violent) event never happens, Jacques’ murderous desire is downplayed and he’s portrayed as a more conventional protagonist than he is in the novel. That’s a shame, but I can’t really penalize this movie because of its time period. 30’s cinema was not ready for Émile Zola. Anyways, now I want to read the book more than ever, and this was my first Renoir, so I’m excited to see more of him as well.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Émile Zola, where everyone is mad, bad and/or dangerous to know! Part of the Rougon-Macquart series, La Bête Humaine tells the story of Jacques Lantier, a railway worker who comes from a wretched bloodline and struggles with a desire to kill women. I’ve been wanting to read the book for a long time, because you know, psychological thriller by Émile Zola, but alas the opportunity is yet to come and the adaptation by Jean Renoir became available to me, so I decided to watch it anyway. It’s a very well-made film: Renoir captures perfectly the atmosphere of the railroad, and all the actors are great in their roles, but throughout my viewing I just felt that something was off. The title, the subject matter, and Émile Zola’s writing in general, are aggressive, and I didn’t feel that at all in this movie. Then I read a summary for the book and realized why. So many things got left out! Flore’s character is butchered, an important (and violent) event never happens, Jacques’ murderous desire is downplayed and he’s portrayed as a more conventional protagonist than he is in the novel. That’s a shame, but I can’t really penalize this movie because of its time period. 30’s cinema was not ready for Émile Zola. Anyways, now I want to read the book more than ever, and this was my first Renoir, so I’m excited to see more of him as well.
