Feminine Narrative and the Law in Renoir's "Le Crime de M. Lange" by Lyall Bush

Cinema Journal, Vol. 29, No. 1 (Autumn, 1989), pp. 54-70

    Bush’s essay about Le Crime de Monsieur Lange focuses on the ending of the film from a psychological perspective.  She cites Marx and Lacan in order to describe the psychological impact of ideologies on individuals.  Individuals act within the established social norms of society (the Law of the Father), and do so unconsciously, blind to the ideologies they follow.  Because of the Oedipal relationship between Lange and Batala, the Law of the Father comes into play.  Batala can be seen as the "Father" figure who represents the established ideologies that Renoir wishes to question and abandon.  Batala’s power is manifest from the beginning of the film.  He has control over language (and thus ideas), evident in early scenes when he gives advice to his writers and often rewrites their pieces to his liking.  His power is metaphorically indicated by the fact that his office is on the top floor while the laundresses work downstairs.  Finally, he owns the publishing business and thus has complete control of its financial workings and its workers.  However, as the film progresses this Father figure is defeated.  The initial victory comes after Batala fakes his own death and the workers acquire the publishing house.  The death of Estelle’s baby, fathered by Batala, is also optimistic as it prevents the Father’s succession.  After Batala is gone, the publishing house is able to prosper with Lange’s creative ideas for Arizona Jim, now under his control. 
    The ending, however, emerges as a great contradiction, as there is a "disjunction between transgression as capitalism and transgression as the way one escapes from it."  In other words, even though Batala is an evil character, the act of killing him is still viewed as unacceptable by society.  Bush interprets this ending as the piecing back together of the Father previously thought defeated.  Even though they broke the law, Valentine and Lange still follow it when they leave the country.  This can be seen as conveying the futility of trying to escape from ideologies.  Although their footprints in the sand will be washed away, in this fading away the Father is returning in favor of the old law.  Even Batala’s murder can be interpreted as carried out under the law of the Father, because Batala suggests that Lange should kill him.  
    This essay is similar to Reader's in that both interpret the ending as taking away from the optimism of the rest of the film.  In relation to my larger investigation, Lyall's piece ackowledges Renoir's attempt to push Popular Front ideology.  However, he argues that Renoir questions whether the Front can bring about the change it desires and stresses that there is still a lot of work to be done.

Feature Films as History, 1981, Chapter 4, Elizabeth Grottle Strebel

    Strebel focuses her analysis of Le Crime de Monsieur Lange on the history of its production.  She gives a detailed description of how the film came to be made, and she believes this history is critical in understanding the film.   
    The movie was filmed in just under thirty days in October and November of 1935, a few months after the Popular Front formed and garnered much support.  In 1935, both Pathe and Gaumont filed for bankruptcy, leading to an influx of smaller production companies and a freer atmosphere for filmmakers.  It was during this period that Renoir had the most control over his creative expression.  He was able to personally select his collaborators, and drew heavily from the October Group, which he greatly admired.  The October Group was a radical theater company that rejected bourgeois theater and favored a theater of the masses.  It was affiliated with larger organizations, such as the Communist sponsored Federation du Theatre Ourvrier, which was involved in assisting labor.  A chief influence on the film was Communist poet Jacques Prevert, largely responsible for the script.  Another influence was Jacques Castanier, who is credited with coming up with the idea of a courtyard being at the film's center.  
    Because of its production history, Strebel believes that the film in its entirety is a celebration of Popular Front ideals.  She notes that the word “l’ange” in France means angel, and thus believes the film eulogizes Lange and his actions.  After all, the October Group’s productions also celebrated and poeticized the working class.  Strebel also sees the film’s ending as optimistic, especially since at the time the film was made the Popular Front was gaining power and instilling hope in the people of France who feared fascism.

In his chapter about Le Crime de Monsieur Lange, Bazin discusses the set-up of the courtyard and its importance to the overall themes of the film.  He includes a diagram that he drew, signaling where the major action points are located and the path of Lange as he moves to kill Batala.  The set for the film was not built on a series of sound stages, but was constructed in its entirety in order to allow camera movements such as the 360-degree pan that show the entire court at once.  Bazin points out that the working title of the film during production was “On the Courtyard”, thus further emphasizing the importance Renoir and his collaborators placed upon it.  His diagram of the courtyard emphasizes the notion of circularity, which is later called into question in Leland Poague’s essay, another one of my sources.  According to Bazin, the center of the courtyard is organized into concentric circles, one of which the camera finals in the famous murder sequence.  Thus, the audience has been trained to see things as circular.  For example, in a prior scene the drunken concierge drags garbage cans completely around the courtyard.  Bazin concludes that the entire mise-en-scene has been leading up to the shot, so we are prepared to accept it and its implications. 
    Bazin also discusses how the acting is an equally important stylistic device for the film.  He notices that for the most part there is simplicity in the acting style.  However, one performance stands out, Jules Berry’s Batala.  Bazin says that Renoir enjoyed “this kind of genial ham actor”, primarily because of how effective he was in the film.  The incongruity of his villainy constantly draws our attention away from the other characters, and thus after his departure we can better focus on them.  Thus, one the domineering, evil capitalist is removed, we can focus on the benevolent characters who make up the social. 

In his analysis of Crime de Monsieur Lange, Sesonske believes there is a direct connection between the politics of the day and the film.  He argues that the focus of the film is not a single person, but a central place, the courtyard.  The court is a structural element because the interactions of the characters depend solely upon the fact that they live and work around it.  Sesonske points out that nearly every camera shot is of the courtyard or the courtyard and some interior space, thus highlighting its importance.  In addition, Sesonske notices that the camera movements take a cyclical form, which further gives a sense of unity among all the diverse actions.  Either the camera moves cyclically (the famous 360-degree pan, for example) or the camera is stationary and the characters move in and out of the shot cyclically.  And while the beginning of the film is dominated by two-person encounters, group scenes become more common after Batala's departure, further evoking a sense of community and cooperation, a de-emphasis on the individual.  
    According to Sesonske, the success of the cooperative within the film is essentially a realization of the goals of the Popular Front.  The evil employer who exploits the workers is murdered, thus reforming the social structure by having socialized cooperation replace authoritarian power.  The workers are freed from oppressive labor conditions, and the company thrives under their control.  And rather than having this film serve as an isolated allegory, Renoir tries to include society as a whole.  For example, strangers pass in and out of the courtyard, including unknown children and a bicycle repairman.  But society is most evoked through the hotel framing scenes in which characters act as a makeshift jury trying to decide whether to bring Lange to the police.  In the end, these ordinary people (and the audience) decide to acquit Lange, thus justifying his militant action.  Sensonke also comments briefly on the ending.  Although Valentine and Lange are "free", they are exiled from the court that was their home.  Thus, there is perhaps more sadness than joy in the final shot of them walking on dunes.

In his analysis of Le Crime de Monsieur Lange, Faulkner continues and elaborates upon many of the ideas posed by Sesonske.  Like Sesonske, he views the film primarily in political terms, and argues that the events do not transcend the politics of the time.  He analyzes every aspect of the film, including plot, characterization, and camerawork, in terms of how they convey Popular Front ideals to the audience. 
    Faulkner points out that Batala's mismanagement is not solely due to his character, but because of his position of power.  He is able to exploit others, and does so on many occasions, treating both women and labor for their immediate use value.  For example, he seduces Estelle and Edith, but abandons Estelle when she becomes pregnant and Edith when he must flee creditors.  Faulkner further discusses the symbolism of the billboard brought up by Sesonske.  The billboard blocked Charles' view of the courtyard, but after Batala leaves Lange decides to take it down.  Faulkner argues that the shot from inside looking out as the billboard is removed encourages the intersection of private and public life, and stresses the importance of community.      
    Probably the most important part of his work is his analysis of the famous 360-degree pan.  While Sesonske said that the pan continues with the spatial conception of the circular courtyard, Faulkner discusses further implications.  Rarely in a film does the camera deliberately take us away from the action, especially in sequences of great importance and suspense.  And yet, at the climax of the film, as Lange goes to murder Batala, the camera turns away from the direction of Lange's movement and around the courtyard before finally meeting up with him again as he pulls the trigger.  If we are to interpret the film in terms of Popular Front ideology, this camera movement gives us the sense of Lange not being in full control of his actions.  There is a desubjectivisation in the shot because it acknowledges that the subject of the film is not the psychology of Lange.  Because the pan circles around the courtyard, it places emphasis on the community and implies a collective responsibility of the action.  In other words, the murder is the political will of the community to protect the new socialized community ideal. 
    Faulkner's discussion of the film makes very direct connections between French politics and Lange, and delineates them very clearly.