Boudu sauvé des eaux

I really enjoy watching old Michel Simon films. When I find one of his films, I always QUICKLY grab it and watch it as soon as possible. That's because even if the film isn't that great, his performance is always very interesting and quite unusual. My favorite film of his is Drôle de drame (1937), but he did several others that are among my favorites.

Well, once again Simon's performance makes this film worth watching. While in this case his acting is NOT subtle or perhaps as high quality as he's done in other films (it's a bit over-the-top), it's fun to just turn off your mind and watch the silliness. This film will not change your life and is a pretty insignificant film but still good to watch nonetheless. I think, for me, the reason I didn't enjoy the film more is that the character of Boudu is a pretty awful person and I just couldn't buy that he was such a sexual dynamo that he was able to make these women forget how crude, selfish and disgusting he was just by turning on the old libido!

So my verdict is that this is a good film that you can watch only if you suspend disbelief. Oh, and I forgot to mention, director Renoir did a great job on the film. For a 1931 French film, the sound and camera work are superb--something you DON'T see in many other films from this country until the later 1930s--he was truly ahead of his time.

Boudu (Michel Simon), a tramp, jumps into the Seine. He is rescued by Mr. Lestingois, a gentle and good bookseller, who gives shelter to him. Mrs. Lestingois and the maid Anne-Marie (Mr. Lestingois' mistress) are far from delighted, for Boudu is lazy, dirty and salacious...

Pauline Kael called it, "not only a lovely fable about a bourgeois attempt to reform an early hippy...but a photographic record of an earlier France." The film was remade in 1986 for an American audience as "Down and Out in Beverly Hills", directed by Paul Mazursky.

Now, I don't know that Boudu is a hippie. That might be an insult to him, and it is certainly an insult to hippies. But there's plenty of comic potential in wealthy people trying to reform the slobs of the world. This theme is addressed in other films, such as "Trading Places", and the comedy writes itself.

It's a movie with some more subtle humor but nevertheless it's not really a movie that could ever make me laugh, which was mostly because due to Michel Simon his very over the top portrayal of the tramp Boudu. You know, the kind of performance in which he plays his character constantly in a drunk way in an attempt to make him look funny. Also his look is far from convincing, with his fake looking beard and big wig. Hello afro! It just isn't the best or most likable character imaginable. When it comes down to French comedy from the early days of cinema ('20' and '30's) this really isn't the best the genre has to offer. For instance you're way better off watching a René Clair movie.

The movie can be seen as a social commentary to the French bourgeoisie and difference between classes. It's this element mostly that makes the movie an interesting watch. No denying that Jean Renoir was a great director who knew how to set up a story and scenes. He also always gets his point across, without having to force too much. Like always, he also in this movie uses some interesting sequences that have deeper meanings to it and the movie is filled with some metaphors.

As you could expect from a Jean Renoir movie, it's also technically a good one. The movie features some interesting camera-shots, which must have also been really original and revolutionary for its time. The editing isn't always too great however.

Not Renoir's best but it's an enjoyable enough little movie.

7/10

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Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A wealthy man saves a homeless guy from drowning and then takes him into his home where the bum soon starts to seduce his wife and mistress. As Jim stated earlier I too prefer the remake Down and Out in Beverly Hills. I think the biggest problem with this film is that the homeless guy is such a jerk it's hard to really care about him and he does the dumbest things that just seem so over the top that I couldn't laugh at him either. Halfway through the movie I was wishing the rich guy had let him drown so that the movie would have already been over.

Some lightweight, Chaplainesque stuff from Jean Renoir. This is the story of a tramp who tries to kill himself and is rescued by a lazy, unmotivated bookseller. Apparently, the rescuer now feels an obligation to provide a home for this hopeless man. Instead of showing gratitude, Boudu takes advantage of everyone, projecting his coarse being in every direction. He seduces the man's wife, spits on the floor, floods the house; you name it. He also gets a dose of civilization and finds it a two edged sword. Michel Simon is awesome in the role, bumbling through life. It's hard to imagine him having enough angst to commit suicide (maybe he was just taking a bath or going for a swim anyway). This popped up as a treat on Turner Classic Movies and I was immediately hooked. I've seen most of the "big" films of Renoir. This little piece is a classic as well. See it if you can.