La Bête Humaine (1938)

Original title

La Bête humaine

Directed by

Jean Renoir

Genre

drama film, crime film

Country

France

Runtime

1h 40m

Rating

7.1 of 10 from 244 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This is a French crime drama from 1938. It follows the lives of people connected to a train, including a railway worker and a woman caught in a violent relationship. The story explores their desires and the violent impulses that drive them.

darkbroodingtensegrittymelancholicvisceralsuspensefulintense

What happens

La Bête Humaine (English: The Human Beast and Judas Was a Woman) is a 1938 French crime drama film directed by Jean Renoir, with cinematography by Curt Courant. The picture features Jean Gabin and Simone Simon, and is loosely based on the 1890 novel La Bête humaine by Émile Zola. La Bête Humaine is partially set "on a train that may be thought of as one of the main characters in the film." Although generally listed as a romantic drama, it is sometimes thought to foreshadow the film noir genre. Fritz Lang directed an adaptation of the same source material as Human Desire 16 years later in the U.S. for Columbia Pictures. The latter film falls more properly within the film noir genre. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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