One thing that is really annoying to filmgoer is when a movie that is really great takes a wrong turn and ends up with a lame third act. Boudu Saved From Drowning is such a film.
It's a comedy from Jean Renior, not ordinarilly though of as a comedy director, though it is indeed funny. The story revolves around homeless bum Boudu (Michel Simon) who tries to commit suicide after he loses his dog. He is saved by the middle-class Mr. Lastingois (Charles Granval), a kind bookseller who is having an affair with his maid (Severine Lerczynska). The Lastingois' let Boudu stay with them out of generoisty, which they will soon regret when he acts rudely and breaks stuff around the house. The film is very funny and rather wise for a while but the movie falls apart in act three.
There are two main problems. First, without giving anything away, Mrs. Lastingois (Marcella Hainia) does something that there is no setup for, has no motivation and is completley out of her characer. At the very end of the film, Boudu also does something that there is no setup for, in fact, given what we know of him, it seems that he would do the opposite.
The other problem is that the movie wants us to really like Boudu. Although Boudu has some redeeming qualities, I didn't find him to be much of a great hero or man of the people. The character is sometimes referred as a French version of Chaplin's Little Tramp, aside from the fact that they are both homeless, there is no comparison. Instead of Chaplin's universal character, Boudu is very much a rude and creepy old man. He's not a terrible person, but he's not the great one the movie thinks he is.
To me, the real heros of the movie are Mr. Lastingois and the maid. They are the only characters in the movie who seem to care about anyone other than themselves. Renoir seems to make an interesting point at the beginning, going against the cliche and having the bum be rude and the middle-class be the nice guy, but he goes for a rather cliched and untrue ending which is muddled in its meaning. Regardless, I found both these characters to be a joy to watch, as they are filled with life.
If Renoir had stuck it out until the end, this might have been a great movie, instead, it's just two-thirds of a great movie. Is that enough to warrant a veiwing? You decide.
Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932)