Jean Renoir's La Bête humaine, or The Human Beast, is a stunning film in the noir tradition. Written by Emile Zola, the story follows a train engineer with an unexplained mental affliction (Jean Gabin) as he falls in love with the wife of a train station manager (Simone Simon). They meet following a murder committed out of irrational, violent love and that is how their own relationship unfolds. It is a dark film and there is surprisingly little levity, at least compared to Renoir's other works. The themes it explores are fantastic, but I'm a little puzzled by the choice to have Gabin's character mentally aberrant--it seems to counter the power of the "human" condition by singling him out as abnormal.
Renoir has always been technically advanced, and this film is no exception. Its age is easily forgotten; it still seems crisp and fresh after 70 years. Both the cinematography and editing were pristine--I absolutely loved the intro and ending sequences. I liked the acting, but was unimpressed by the characters themselves. Maybe back then they didn't seem as archetypal as they are now. Still, it is a highly recommended film for noir lovers and Renoir fanatics.IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0029957/