{"id":13284,"date":"2010-11-12T12:31:34","date_gmt":"2010-11-12T19:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=13284"},"modified":"2021-10-25T10:04:55","modified_gmt":"2021-10-25T17:04:55","slug":"lower-depths-the-bas-fonds-les-1936","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=13284","title":{"rendered":"Lower Depths, The \/ Bas-Fonds, Les (1936)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;We&#8217;re born, we live, we die &#8212; it&#8217;s nothing to cry over.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Lower-Depths-1936-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Lower-Depths-1936-Poster-219x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"219\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-65012\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Lower-Depths-1936-Poster-219x300.png 219w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Lower-Depths-1936-Poster-748x1024.png 748w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Lower-Depths-1936-Poster-93x128.png 93w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Lower-Depths-1936-Poster-768x1051.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Lower-Depths-1936-Poster-197x270.png 197w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Lower-Depths-1936-Poster.png 813w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 219px) 100vw, 219px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA destitute baron (Louis Jouvet) befriends a thief (Jean Gabin) living in a flophouse, whose married landlady (Suzy Prim) is jealous about Gabin&#8217;s love for her downtrodden sister (Junie Astor).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>French Films<\/li>\n<li>Jean Gabin Films<\/li>\n<li>Jean Renoir Films<\/li>\n<li>Love Triangle<\/li>\n<li>Play Adaptation<\/li>\n<li>Thieves and Criminals<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nJean Renoir&#8217;s adaptation of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lower_Depths\">Maxim Gorky&#8217;s 1902 Russian stage play<\/a> transports the narrative to the slums of Paris, effectively opening up the tale by including a lengthy backstory for one of the characters: Louis Jouvet&#8217;s impoverished baron, who remains remarkably unperturbed as he&#8217;s forced to give up his palatial residence and adopt a life of itinerant poverty. His friendship with Gabin, and his eventual residence in the flophouse run by Vladimir Sokoloff and Suzy Prim, provide the background context for the film&#8217;s central drama &#8212; Gabin&#8217;s love for Prim&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s1262low.html\">&#8220;Cinderella-like abused sister&#8221;<\/a> (Astor), who is cruelly &#8220;sold&#8221; to a lascivious, blackmailing suitor (Andre Gabriello). Despite its citation as the best picture of 1936 by a <a href=\"http:\/\/allmovie.com\/work\/les-bas-fonds-30416\">&#8220;circle of prestigious French critics&#8221;<\/a>, this bittersweet drama no longer ranks among Renoir&#8217;s best work &#8212; yet it&#8217;s ultimately more enjoyable than Kurosawa&#8217;s 1957 reimagining of the play, which (as noted in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=13270\">my review<\/a>) spreads itself too thinly among the play&#8217;s ensemble characters. Jouvet is particularly notable here as the soulful baron: his plight immediately intrigues us, and serves as a welcome counterpart to the storyline&#8217;s more blatantly sordid elements. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Louis Jouvet as the Baron<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/lower-depths-1936-jouvet1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/lower-depths-1936-jouvet1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13286\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though it&#8217;s worth a look, and Renoir fans will certainly want to check it out. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0027336\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s1262low.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/allmovie.com\/work\/les-bas-fonds-30416\">All Movie Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/les-bas-fonds\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re born, we live, we die &#8212; it&#8217;s nothing to cry over.&#8221; Synopsis: A destitute baron (Louis Jouvet) befriends a thief (Jean Gabin) living in a flophouse, whose married landlady (Suzy Prim) is jealous about Gabin&#8217;s love for her downtrodden sister (Junie Astor). Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: French Films Jean Gabin Films Jean Renoir Films Love Triangle Play Adaptation Thieves and Criminals Review: Jean Renoir&#8217;s adaptation of Maxim Gorky&#8217;s 1902 Russian stage play transports the narrative to the slums&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=13284\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13284"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77717,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13284\/revisions\/77717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}