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Directed by: Charlie Chaplin Starring: Charlie Chaplin Monsieur Verdoux was Charlie Chaplin’s first foray into sound cinema, made almost twenty years after The Jazz Singer (the first American sound film) premiered. The film was a complete surprise to fans of Chaplin, who abandoned his beloved character “The Tramp” and the cheery sentimentality of his silent films in favor of dark humor and social commentary. The films reception was a disaster, and Chaplin came under the gaze of the House on Un-American Activities due to the “atheist” content of the film, eventually forcing him to find sanctuary in Europe. The title character of the film, Monsieur Verdoux, is a cold, calculating killer who manipulates women into surrendering their fortunes to him before he does away with them. The film follows his attempts to woe and rob several women, some of who he marries to convince of his affection before he makes his move, which results in him leading several lives under assumed identities. As he seduces and kills more and more women, the trial of evidence piles up behind him, and the police gradually close in on him. Chaplin is charming and captivating as the murdering Verdoux, maintaining an aura of humor and sophistication throughout his many endeavors. Chaplin is careful in never letting the character appear outright evil, and always manages to keep the audience on his side despite the obvious moral complications of his lifestyle. He constructs an allegory between the “love ‘em and leave” Verdoux and war profiteers of the time, claiming that “Wars, conflict--it's all business. One murder makes a villain; millions, a hero. Numbers sanctify!” The social commentary is restrained but poignant, never becoming overwhelming of forced upon the audience. The direction (also by Chaplin) is masterful as well, complementing his acting style surprisingly well (considering he has played only one character for almost all of his career). His handling of the sexual tension in one scene, in which Verdoux talks on the phone to one of the women he is pursuing as a girl working in the flower shop listens, in is a riot, and surprisingly erotic (though not explicitly so) for the period. Chaplin’s style is incredibly subversive, and it’s easy to see why it received such a negative reception when it opened, though it appears relatively tame by contemporary standards. It’s a shame that Monsieur Verdoux was made in such a conservative era, because many similarly themed films (Kind Hearts and Coronets, the Lady Killers) which were produced only a decade later received much warmer reactions from their audiences. It also signaled the beginning of the end for Chaplin’s career. He went on to make a few more films during the rest of his life (most notably the autobiographical Limelight), but his career never reached the heights he enjoyed as the Tramp. Verdoux is still surprisingly fresh, with smart direction and a layered narrative that is easily accessible to contemporary audiences.
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May 2, 2004 23:46
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 21:55 |
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