La bête humaine (1938)

Director:

Jean Renoir

Writer:

Émile Zola (novel)
(more)

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)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jacques Roussel	...	Commissaire Cauche (as Roussel)
Jacques Beauvais	...	(uncredited)
Jacques Becker	...	Un lampiste (uncredited)
Jacques B. Brunius	...	Un garçon de ferme (uncredited)
Guy Decomble	...	Le garde-barrière (uncredited)
Marguerite de Morlaye	...	(uncredited)
Émile Genevois	...	Un garçon de ferme (uncredited)
Léon Larive	...	Le valet de chambre (uncredited)
Maurice Marceau	...	Un mécanicien (uncredited)
Georges Péclet	...	Un cheminot (uncredited)
Georges Spanelly	...	Camy-Lamotte, le secrétaire de Grandmorin (uncredited)
Marcel Veyran	...	Le chanteur (uncredited)

Directed by
Jean Renoir

Writing credits
Émile Zola		(novel)
Denise Leblond		dialogue (uncredited)
Jean Renoir		adaptation and dialogue (uncredited)

Produced by
Raymond Hakim	....	producer
Robert Hakim	....	producer

Original Music by
Joseph Kosma		(as J. Kosma)

Cinematography by
Curt Courant

Film Editing by
Suzanne de Troeye
Marguerite Renoir		(as Marg. Houlet Renoir)

Production Design by
Eugène Lourié		(as Lourié)

Costume Design by
Laure Lourie		(uncredited)

Production Management
Frédéric Liotier	....	production supervisor
Metchikian	....	unit manager
Roland Tual	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Suzanne de Troeye	....	assistant director
Claude Renoir	....	assistant director (as Claude Renoir ainé)

Sound Department
Robert Teisseire	....	sound engineer (as Teissere)

Camera and Electrical Department
Guy Ferrier	....	assistant camera
Sam Levin	....	still photographer
Jacques Natteau	....	assistant camera (as Natteau)
Maurice Pecqueux	....	assistant camera (as Pecqueux)
Alain Renoir	....	assistant camera
Claude Renoir	....	camera operator
Claude Renoir Jr.	....	camera operator

Other crew
Suzanne de Troeye	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Paris Film

Distributors

• Century Park Pictures (1940) (USA) (theatrical)
• Juno (1940) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Les Films Georges Muller (????) (France) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Les Films Vog (????) (France) (theatrical)
• Lux Compagnie Cinématographique de France (1938) (France) (theatrical)
• Paris Films Location (????) (France) (theatrical)
• Continental Home Vídeo (Brazil) (video)
• Criterion Collection, The (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Hen's Tooth Video (video)
• Manga Films (2005) (Spain) (DVD)
• Studiocanal Vidéo (1998) (France) (VHS)
• Studiocanal Vidéo (2001) (France) (DVD)
• Video Yesteryear
• Warner Home Video (2000) (UK) (VHS)
• Warner Home Vidéo (2001) (France) (DVD)
• Éditions Montparnasse (????) (France) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Parvo  camera equipment provided by
• Societé Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF)  special thanks

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

Code Parameters

After having seen Human Desire which was an American version of this film based on a novel by Emile Zola, I knew full well that the French version would be a lot closer to what Zola was writing about. What he was writing about was sex and how it can really put men in a jackpot. It puts two of them there in this film.

The actual Zola novel is set in the 19th century and the climax takes place on a train carrying munitions to the front during the Franco- Prussian War. La Bete Humaine is moved up and it takes place in 1938 France and it opens with Jean Gabin driving a train on the run from Paris to Le Havre. The supervisor of the station is Fernand Ledoux and he's got one young minx of a wife in Simone Simon.

Ledoux gets himself in a situation with a rich man who can make trouble for him on his job. But Simon's got some influence with an even richer dude. But that's not the way Ledoux wants to keep his job. She's a no good woman Simon, but Ledoux is obsessed with her.

So much so that he wants to kill Jacques Berlioz the rich man who Simon bopped. And he conceives of a plan to kill him on the train and forces Simon to go with him. The crime comes off, but Gabin is a passenger on the train who just happened to be out in the corridor and can place at least Simon at the crime scene.

He keeps his mouth shut because he too becomes obsessed with her. American film fans will remember her from Val Lewton's Cat People and from The Devil And Daniel Webster where she's the temptress sent from hell to seduce James Craig. She's Mary Poppins in those roles next to the one she plays in La Bete Humaine. Then again the French did not have the omnipresent American Code to deal with.

Emile Zola when he wasn't defending Alfred Dreyfus as the American film of his life concentrated on, wrote novels just like this, dealing with realistic human weaknesses. I have to wonder who were the real life models for the characters he created. Of course it all ends rather badly for everyone, all around.

Jean Renoir's whole ambiance in this film was gray and rainy, so rainy you would think it was London instead of Paris. The scenes in the railroad yards were realistically depicted. I think they served as a blueprint for what John Frankenheimer did in The Train.

As for Gabin's character, he's a man with issues of his own and plays it quite different than Glenn Ford did in Human Desire. Fritz Lang who directed Human Desire had to deal with Code parameters. I think he'd have preferred to do the same film Renoir did.

Best to see La Bete Humaine back to back with Human Desire. I have no doubt which one you'll rate better.