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Boudu Saved from Drowning

Boudu Saved from Drowning

1932
Comedy
1h 25m
Boudu, a tramp, jumps into the Seine. He is rescued by Mr Lestingois, a gentle and good bookseller, who gives shelter to him... (imdb)
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Boudu Saved from Drowning

1932
Comedy
1h 25m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 58.52% from 373 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(373)
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Rated 26 Oct 2009
1
6th
A failed comment on bourgeois mores, as Boudu is depicted as plainly unlikable, yet his upper class benefactor is a relatively decent (if flawed) man. Any sympathy you may have for Boudu is just obliterated because he is so annoying. The presentation is also somewhat drab and dated, with little-to-none of the brilliant staging Renoir is known for.
Rated 25 Jan 2015
1
1st
goodness, that was a slog to get through. jean renoir's idea of class commentary is to have bourgeois social conventions uprooted by a brutish oaf of a homeless man, played by an extremely annoying michel simon. i'm not even gonna bother to comment on the rape scene. needless to say, renoir's reputation as a master satirist is wildly incongruous with what appears on screen.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
57
14th
Not a big Michel Simon fan. He almost ruined L'Atalante, and here he plays it even more over-the-top. The movie, one of Renoir's first, starts out promising with some sharp satire, but devolves into a tedious series of incidents involving Simon acting like a prick. I guess it's supposed to be funny, but I found it irritating.
Rated 14 Dec 2006
78
54th
If Michel Simon weren't so damn annoying this would be a magnificent film, a commentary the place of money in our lives with a lot of wry humor. As it stands it's a good but somewhat flawed satire that shows Renoir finding his way.
Rated 21 Nov 2018
84
75th
Boudu reminds me of Chaplin’s Tramp, though more connected to the short films of Chaplin than the features. This is particularly due to the mean-spirited nature of Boudu, who flouts all convention with little concern for people and property. I wonder if Renoir is suggesting that everything about Boudu is in some way a reaction to the bourgeois conventions he sees around him. If this is the case, then Boudu’s so-called freedom is anything but.
Rated 02 Mar 2008
72
55th
# 559
Rated 22 Feb 2016
16
88th
Star Rating: ★★★★1/2
Rated 11 Nov 2009
2
16th
Early 30s sound fims are usually trying. Michel Simon in the most annoying role I've ever seen does not help matters, yet somehow, the cast of characters and script are still devoted to him to an absurd degree. This is not the Renoir I know of, I actually forgot it was him in all the banality. And this is a comedy? Sure fooled me.
Rated 21 May 2011
75
11th
Fui assisti-lo sem qualquer expectativa e me surpreendi com um filme engraçado, crítico e não convencional. É incrível como uma comédia tão anárquica tenha sido feita no início dos anos 30, em que não apenas é ridicularizada a falsidade da filantropia e do casamento dos personagens pequeno-burgueses; como a própria figura de Boudu é bastante irritante e não oferece nenhuma característica de afeição ou identificação ao espectador, sendo o oposto do simpático vagabundo de Chaplin.
Rated 15 Sep 2010
88
96th
One of Renoir's and the era's awesomest. It renders Paris of the day naturalistically but magically. Renoir excels in picturesque sunny outdoors. The text is both intelligent and timelessly funny. I laughed out loud frequently at the dry but hard-hitting comedy of manners. A joy to watch.
Rated 01 Dec 2011
68
36th
#640
Rated 19 Dec 2008
68
36th
637
Rated 08 Nov 2010
40
97th
"Even enterprise without state can be amply rewarded in the films of Renoir." - Eric Henderson
Rated 03 Feb 2015
85
71st
An interesting early Renoir, though much of your enjoyment of Boudu will stem from how endearing you find its titular character. I happened to waver quite a bit.
Rated 09 Jan 2013
80
99th
Boudu! What a man! There is no one else like him. He sees the world in such a different way. An ultimate tramp. A rougher Chaplin. Just watch in astonishment his madness as he defies every normal behavior. I don't have words strong enough to describe Michel Simon as the bum. Superb and more! Director Jean Renoir really made a gem here!
Rated 16 Nov 2012
65
18th
It's light, verging on frivolous. It lacks much of the nuance present in Renoir's other films, especially where the characters are concerned (Boudu often cruises right past "amusing" and into "straight-up obnoxious"). Its commentary, therefore, is more shrouded and less complete than in The Rules of the Game or even The Lower Depths. The film is, however, quaint and accessible, perhaps sharing more in common with Hollywood comedies of the era than anything else.
Rated 15 Jan 2010
68
36th
634
Rated 17 Mar 2010
60
53rd
Its funny and the message comes through a little too clearly, but the bits just went on too long.
Rated 09 Aug 2011
74
59th
More ironic than funny. Some nice outdoor photography, though.
Rated 15 Jan 2016
60
9th
Simon plays Boudu like a drunken, asshole The Tramp. It starts fairly decent but the story of Boudu seems to go nowhere
Rated 09 Oct 2012
82
83rd
Funny and sharp satire at its best moments, but not as good as I remembered.
Rated 19 Feb 2024
65
51st
There's something here about class difference going beyond immediate circumstances that might justify Boudu's difficult character. He is more than materially attached to his familiar life, and so proves difficult to 're-form'. People on the outskirts often have anti-social characteristics, perhaps expressing a warranted disdain for a hypocritical society (scene with police). Setting his improprieties against bourgeois manners helps to highlight the Lestingois' sheltered naivety.
Rated 10 May 2009
80
62nd
The second half is sort of a letdown, in my opinion.
Rated 28 Oct 2010
80
42nd
I thought I was going to love this, since Michelle Simon's anarchic sailor in "L'Atalante" is one of my favorite performances, but both and the film soon grow disagreable and tedious. And yet . . . the great open air shots of Paris stick in my memory.
Rated 20 Nov 2015
63
21st
A tonally-incongruent attempt at satire. On one hand, Renoir criticizes the bourgeoisie for having shallow, unfulfilled, materialistic lives, but on the other he paints the only working-class character as being an obnoxious, idiotic rapist. Why are all the other characters so fond of him? Why didn't they kick him out sooner? If the rich are supposed to be so terrible how come I feel nothing but praise for the kindness and incredible patience of Mr. Lestingois?
Rated 11 Nov 2016
80
37th
Viewed November 10, 2016. Looks and feels like a light comedy about a lovable tramp, but it lets it claws out in an incisive, hilarious way. It has numerous perfect satirical moments. Renoir's allegiances are clear, as he gleefully dismantles the upper class and celebrates Boudu's disruptive/disgusting behavior, but without losing the compassionate sense of his best work. I can't believe it took me so long to figure this out, but Preminger was his heir apparent, right?
Rated 13 Jun 2018
48
32nd
So many of it's class-based satirical points are still poignant that it's really disappointing when it falls into the old horrible trope that everything a repressed woman needs is to be "taken" (= raped) by a "real man" in order to start feeling some joy. It's played as a joke but I'm not sure that makes it better. Sure, I'm reading an 85 year old text through a modern lens here but it still doesn't sit well with me. Her last line before it happens is even her shouting "I'm frightened!".
Rated 22 Feb 2019
88
58th
87.50
Rated 01 Mar 2020
70
71st
Funny comedy of manners that runs out of steam in its third act and hasn't aged as well as other critiques of bourgeois ritual like Chaplin's films or The Exterminating Angel. The setup is better than the payoff, but Simon is really quite good, and Renoir retains a somewhat ambiguous perspective on his character that keeps it watchable, even when it isn't particularly funny. Some of the jokes also hit hard.
Rated 30 Aug 2020
90
87th
Simon is the living embodiment of Boudu and a force of nature. It's difficult to center a film on someone who is not a lovable rapscallion like Charlie Chaplin, but who is a destructive, boorish naysayer who refuses to stop spitting on the floor and seduces everyone in sight seemingly out of sheer boredom. It's a brilliant farce and one of the many films from this period whose radical, anarchic spirit has never really been equaled.
Rated 09 Aug 2021
40
5th
AhÂ… a French clownÂ… for 80 minutes a French clown. Wonderful.
Rated 10 Nov 2021
71
65th
Everything in this movie seems to have a double edge. The attempt at social commentary is done in a way that calls for second guessing, such as the extreme brutishness of Boudu. But maybe that's the whole point, right?
Rated 26 Feb 2022
66
30th
Unfortunate depiction of rape as "liberating" undermines what I thought, for the most part, was a pleasant class & moral satire.
Rated 12 Dec 2022
58
18th
Periodically amusing and a really fun performance from Simon, but it just isn't all that funny, at least by today's standards. It just really doesn't ever go anywhere. Just ok.

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