Boudu Saved from Drowning
Encyclopedia
Boudu Saved from Drowning is a 1932
French
film
directed by Jean Renoir
. Renoir wrote the film's screenplay, from the play by René Fauchois. The film stars Michel Simon
as Boudu.
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.'
ian, Latin Quarter
bookseller, Edouard Lestingois, (Charles Granval), rescues a tramp, Boudu, from a suicidal plunge into the river Seine
, from the Pont des Arts
. Boudu is brought into Lestingois' household. The family adopts the man and dedicates itself to reforming him into a proper middle class person. Boudu (Michel Simon
) shows his gratitude by shaking the household to its foundations, challenging the hidebound manners of his hosts and seduces not only the housemaid but also Madame Lestingois herself. Gradually Boudu is tamed, shaved and given a haircut, and put in a suit. Then he wins a large sum of money on the lottery, and is guided into marrying the housemaid. Finally however, at the wedding scene, Boudu capsizes a rowing boat and floats away from the wedding party, and "back to his old vagrancy, a free spirit once more."
, directed by Paul Mazursky
. Another remake, Boudu, was released in 2005. Gérard Jugnot
directed, from a screenplay by Philippe Lopes-Curval. It starred Gérard Depardieu
as Boudu.
1932 in film
-Events:*Cary Grant's film career begins*Katharine Hepburn's film career begins*Shirley Temple's film career begins*Disney released Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.*Santa, first sound film made in Mexico released....
French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed by Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s...
. Renoir wrote the film's screenplay, from the play by René Fauchois. The film stars Michel Simon
Michel Simon
Michel Simon , was a Swiss actor. The actor François Simon is his son.-Early years:...
as Boudu.
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
called it, 'not only a lovely fable about a bourgeois attempt to reform an early hippy...but a photographic record of an earlier France.'
Plot summary
Bourgeois ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
ian, Latin Quarter
Latin Quarter
Latin Quarter is a part of the 5th arrondissement in Paris.Latin Quarter may also refer to:* Latin Quarter , a British pop/rock band* Latin Quarter , a 1945 British film*Latin Quarter, Aarhus, part of Midtbyen, Aarhus C, Denmark...
bookseller, Edouard Lestingois, (Charles Granval), rescues a tramp, Boudu, from a suicidal plunge into the river Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
, from the Pont des Arts
Pont des Arts
The Pont des Arts or Passerelle des Arts is a pedestrian bridge in Paris which crosses the Seine River. It links the Institut de France and the central square of the palais du Louvre, .-History:Between 1802 and 1804, a nine-arch metallic bridge for pedestrians was constructed at the location of...
. Boudu is brought into Lestingois' household. The family adopts the man and dedicates itself to reforming him into a proper middle class person. Boudu (Michel Simon
Michel Simon
Michel Simon , was a Swiss actor. The actor François Simon is his son.-Early years:...
) shows his gratitude by shaking the household to its foundations, challenging the hidebound manners of his hosts and seduces not only the housemaid but also Madame Lestingois herself. Gradually Boudu is tamed, shaved and given a haircut, and put in a suit. Then he wins a large sum of money on the lottery, and is guided into marrying the housemaid. Finally however, at the wedding scene, Boudu capsizes a rowing boat and floats away from the wedding party, and "back to his old vagrancy, a free spirit once more."
Cast
- Michel SimonMichel SimonMichel Simon , was a Swiss actor. The actor François Simon is his son.-Early years:...
as Priape Boudu - Marcelle Hainia as Emma Lestingois
- Sévérine Lerczinska as Chloe Anne Marie, la bonne
- Jean GehretJean GehretJean Gehret was an actor and director, appearing in a few films directed by Jean Renoir, including La Chienne and Madame Bovary .-External links:...
as Vigour - Max Dalban as Godin
- Jean DastéJean DastéJean Dasté, born Jean Georges Gustave Dasté, was an actor and theatre director....
as L'etudiant - Charles Granval as Edouard Lestingois
- Jacques BeckerJacques BeckerJacques Becker was a French screenwriter and film director.Becker was born in Paris, in an upper class background. During the 1930s he worked as an assistant to director Jean Renoir during his peak period, which produced such cinematic masterpieces as Grand Illusion and The Rules of the Game...
as Poet on park bench
Remake
The film was remade in 1986 for an American audience as Down and Out in Beverly HillsDown and Out in Beverly Hills
Down and Out in Beverly Hills is a 1986 American comedy film based on the French play Boudu sauvé des eaux, which had previously been adapted on film in 1932 by Jean Renoir. Down and Out in Beverly Hills was directed by Paul Mazursky, and starred Nick Nolte, Bette Midler and Richard Dreyfuss...
, directed by Paul Mazursky
Paul Mazursky
Paul Mazursky is an American film director, screenwriter and actor.-Personal life:He was born Irwin Mazursky in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jean , a piano player for dance classes, and David Mazursky, a laborer. Mazursky was born to a Jewish family; his grandfather was an immigrant from...
. Another remake, Boudu, was released in 2005. Gérard Jugnot
Gérard Jugnot
Gérard Jugnot is a French actor, film director, screenwriter and producer.Jugnot was one of the founders of the comedy troupe Le Splendid in the 1970s, along with, among others, his high-school friends Christian Clavier, Thierry Lhermitte, and Michel Blanc...
directed, from a screenplay by Philippe Lopes-Curval. It starred Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...
as Boudu.
External links
- Bondu Saved from Drowning at Rotten TomatoesRotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
- Criterion Collection essay by Christopher Faulkner
- Review at The Factual Opinion