Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932)

 Jean Renoir’s “Boudu Saved from Drowning”

Thematic Elements: 

Many film analysts view Boudu Saved from Drowning as a social commentary on class. Boudu is a tramp who then must adjust to an absurd world of affluence. While these thematic elements are definitely present, I believe this commentary on class stems from the themes of the psychological divide between our natural animal selves and our modern liberal selves. Boudu, who is a tramp, is undomesticated by the modern world.  He is free to sleep anywhere, eat anything, and behave however we wants. However, when he is brought into an affluent home, this behavior is rejected by the more modern liberalist. Mr. Lestingois, who brought Boudu into his home represents this modern liberal human. He has wealth, materials, and rules and restrictions to how one should behave. These two philosophies collide in the film and become in contention with each other. Boudu has the desire to be his natural self while Mr. Lestingois has the desire to be more in control of one’s self so as to regulate one’s own behavior according to the modern etiquette. It is Boudu who ends up being the one forced into changing his behavior. He is encouraged to dress more affluently, avoid invading others’ personal spaces and avoid creating destruction of their material possessions. The members of the family seem contentious with Boudu up until the point in which he receives a large fortune from winning the lottery, at which point they become much more accepting of him. This natural animalism versus modern liberalism seems to lead into the class discussion the film is making. Renoir is saying that modern liberalism inhibits one’s ability to be their natural animal selves. This idea of the modern individual limits our ability to be free thinking and instead institutes rules and expectations for the individual to live by based off societal control. We as an audience also seem to be annoyed and frustrated by Boudu’s lack of control. Because of our modernity, we feel the same as the family does when Boudu is destroying everything and causing problem after problem. This perhaps is Renoir’s way of showing us how restricted we are in the ways that Boudu is not. Our first instinct is to our material possessions and our regulated behavior. But perhaps this is simply our conditioning brought on by societal control. Boudu accepts control to a certain point and is even aligned to marry the maid of the home. However, Boudu (like with all of the film) is a force that cannot be contained. Even though the family is now accepting of his destructiveness and intrusiveness with his newfound wealth, Boudu feels too constricted by this new modern way of living and leaves. Boudu sheds his lavish clothes and retreats back into his raggedy clothes and uncontrolled lifestyle. 

Camerawork: 

The way the film is shot mirrors it’s subject matter. The scenes depicted outside have a freedom and visual lushness to them. Everything is bright and there is lots of space for Boudu to move through and be his naturalistic self. The inside settings are shot with a sense of restriction; an enforced stay-ness dominates the film. Boudu’s sense of freedom he receives from the outside is all of sudden more confined and claustrophobic when he is inside. The compositions of the inside match that of a painting. The different shots of the house look like a still painting until Boudu enters into the frame and suddenly becomes a destructive force colliding with walls and objects thus destroying the beauty of the picturesque look of everything. He is portrayed as a moving object in a pinball machine. He is constantly bounding around the room, bumping into things, destroying things, invading others’ personal space and causing disruption. The modern organized lifestyle of restriction and regulation is aggressively disrupted by Boudu’s animalistic presence. 

Best Shot: 

One of the best shots of the film is of Boudu propping himself up against the wall. In the frame, it appears as if he is being squashed by the house. The domesticity of the modern world is a suffocation to him. The shot greatly illustrates that sense of control and restriction he feels by having him appear compressed by the house in the frame.