Événement

Boudu Saved from Drowning @ Robert Classic French Film Festival

Boudu Saved from Drowning/
(Boudu sauvé des eaux)
Jean Renoir, 1932, 85 min., B&W, 35mm projection source (courtesy of Institut Francais)

Michel Simon gives one of the most memorable performances in screen history as Boudu, a Parisian tramp who takes a suicidal plunge into the Seine and is rescued by a well-to-do bookseller, Edouard Lestingois (Charles Granval). The Lestingois family decides to take in the irrepressible bum, and he shows his gratitude by shaking the household to its foundations. With Boudu Saved from Drowning, legendary director Jean Renoir (The Rules of the Game, Grand Illusion) takes advantage of a host of Parisian locations and the anarchic charms of his lead actor to create an effervescent satire of the bourgeoisie.

Londons Telegraph observes: Its hard to imagine cinema without Boudu Saved from Drowning. Released in 1932, its equal parts farce, social satire and existential drama and one of Jean Renoirs most enduring works, at once delightful and troubling. Its story a suicidal tramp is taken in by a do-gooding middle-class home only for him to wreak havoc explores some of the same territory as Tom Wolfe in his essay Radical Chic. It also formed the basis of Paul Mazurskys Down and Out In Beverly Hills (1986).... Boudu Saved from Drowning is blessed by fluid camerawork, beautiful cinematography and riverine rhythms. Simon gives a towering and infinitely merry performance. But its the films philosophical implications that have fascinated generations of moviegoers.

With an introduction and post-film discussion by Jean-Louis Pautrot, professor of French and international studies at Saint Louis University.