La Chienne

I wish I had Lang’s Scarlet Street on hand to rewatch on the heels of this, for I wonder if there is a better example anywhere of two artists taking the same material and crafting completely different and completely brilliant products out of it. As well as I can recall, excepting some fuller exposition, Scarlet Street is quite similar in its narrative development until the conclusion, and of course unique in tone, pitched more in the key of noir, making it a psychological story, at times bitingly vicious.

Chienne is thoroughly Renoir (the social-comedy Renoir and the ironic-tragedy Renoir and neither & nothing, as the opening-scene puppet show variously contends), so this is equally vicious, but in a lighter and more personal way, and perhaps all the more searing for it — Renoir as director seems to me like a loving and judgmental god with a sense of humor, pulling the strings.

I like Simon here as much as Robinson in the lead role, but without the same cultural baggage attached to him the role goes over differently. It’s rather shocking to see Edward G Robinson in a ruffled apron; Simon is also entirely emasculated, but merely comes off as boob. That said, it’s probably all the more satisfying when the naive bumbler proves he’s not as stupid as the various parties manipulating him may think.

The ultimate fate of this character diverge in the two films — I have no idea which is more faithful to the novel — and both are appropriate and effective in their own contexts. Here Legrand finds a happy ending of a sort when finally he dispatches all who have held him down and steps well outside the confines of polite society. I’m definitely an admirer of both films; Renoir’s is immaculately composed, frequently very funny, and a wicked study of behavior and society as only he can do, and I can’t wait to further explore his 30s work.