Synopsis
La Bête Humaine (1938) — Jean Renoir's adaptation of Émile Zola's naturalist novel — is available to watch online on iFILM. Jean Gabin plays Jacques Lantier, a locomotive engineer on the Paris–Le Havre line who keeps a dangerous secret from himself: episodes of murderous rage that surface without warning, blamed on generations of alcoholism in his bloodline.
One layover in Le Havre draws him into a killing. He witnesses stationmaster Roubaud murder a wealthy passenger out of jealousy, and Roubaud's wife Séverine — knowing Lantier saw everything — draws him into an affair to ensure his silence. The seduction works. What Séverine miscalculates is how far down her plan will pull them both.
Gabin's performance carries something fatalistic and quiet — a man aware he is losing ground to forces he cannot name. That tone is what French poetic realism of the late 1930s did better than anyone. Stream La Bête Humaine in good quality on iFILM.
Starring
Comments 0