Boudu Saved From Drowning DVD Review:

There are so many films which show the struggle of people in poverty as they try desperately to find a way out of their troubles. The brilliance of Michel Simon’s character Boudu, the key character in the classic Jean Renoir film Boudu Saved from Drowning, is that he is completely indifferent to wealth and possessions although this does not prevent him from indulging. Boudu Saved from Drowning is a humorous dark comedy which is essentially a character study because of the remarkable performance by Simon. It is a whirlwind of odd behavior and not much explanation for any of the action, which is essentially what makes Boudu so fascinating.

Boudu is a tramp who suddenly after losing his dog decides to take a suicidal plunge into the Seine. Fate steps in when a bookseller, Edourd Lestingois, sees Boudu jump in and risks his life to save the tramp. After saving him, Lestingois decides to bring Boudu into his home in an attempt to reform him.

In Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Choke, the lead character makes money by faking choking in restaurants so that people will save him. According to him people feel obligated when they save your life, and it seems that Renoir would have agreed as well, for even as Boudu refuses to change his way and completely disrespects the household, Lestingois refuses to give up on him.

Boudu is ungrateful and picky about what he eats, what he wears, and where he sleeps. Instead of thanking his rescuer he simply blames him for the problems he has being left alive. The humor in the situation is matched by the frustration of watching such an indifferent man being treated with absolute kindness. It is impossible to dislike Simon’s tramp as much as it is easy to hate the way he acts.

The 1932 film was restored with a high-definition digital transfer for the DVD, which wasn’t able to correct all of the static from the film which must have been damaged, but the picture looks as good as it will ever look again. There is a wonderful archival introduction by Jean Renoir, which he filmed years after completing the film. Renoir talks about his experience watching the film years after completing it. There is also an excerpt from a program featuring Renoir and Michel Simon, a video interview with filmmaker Jean-Pierre Gorin, an archival interview with Eric Rohmer, and an interactive map of Paris in 1930. The DVD package features a wonderful photo of the heavily bearded Simon as Boudu, and inside is an insert with a new essay by Renoir scholar Christopher Faulkner.



Ryan Izay