I had wanted to see this film because I was intrigued to see the work of Jean Renoir, second son of the great Impressionist painter, who is
a highly respected film director (and is portrayed in the film, Renoir). This film did little satisfy my expectations.
In fact, I was constantly reminded of a statement from The Go-Between: “The
past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”
Directed by Renoir in 1932 France, the film attempts to be a
light farce of the early thirties fashion.
Boudou, played rather heavy handedly
by Michel Simon, is supposed to be a free-spirit tramp who tries to commit
suicide but is rescued by the owner of a bookstore, Ėdouard Lestingois (Charles
Granval) who is unhappily married to Emma (Marcelle Hainia) and having an
affair with his maid, Sévérine Lerczinska. The whole household is turned upside
down when Lestingois tries to civilize the boorish, unkempt, and loutish Boudou.
The outlandish behavior of Boudou was, I’m sure, intended to
be very funny to the 1930s audience. He at one point is told by Lestingois not
to spit on the floor, so he chooses a first edition of Balzac to spit in. He is
told to polish his shoes and he does a lengthy sequence involving a kitchen and
a bedroom where he smears shoe polish on everything, knocking down everything
in the process. For many in the modern audience, his behavior was far from
comic.
In the end of the film, as we know it will, Boudou wins a
fortune, makes love to the wife and the maid and ends up marrying. He is saved
from his marriage, however, when he knocks the boat carrying the whole bridal
party into the water and he floats away blissfully free. He exchanges his good
clothes with those of a scarecrow and goes off for his free adventures.
The film has been restored to its clear 1930s black and
white and looks beautiful. Of interest is the fascinating street scenes and
depictions of a pre-war France. The general reaction of the audience with whom
I saw the film was expressed by one elderly lady I walked out behind, “I feel
like I should walk back to box office and demand my money back.”
Note: If the film plot sounds familiar, the plot was used for Paul Mazursky and Nick Nolte's Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986).
Boudou Saved From Drowning (1932) **
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