Readers Write In #746: When ‘Scarlet Street’ meets ‘La Chienne’, but does it?

By Suraj Aliabadi

La Chienne (1931) and Scarlet Street (1945) were two movies made by two directors with contrasting set of sensibilities and modes of storytelling. I saw scarlet street first made by German Director Fritz Lang and was really fascinated with the way the story went about dissecting the persona of Mr. Chris Cross played by Edward G. Robinson. I then watched La Chienne made by French Director Jean Renoir and wanted to see how the character molded in the adept hands of Renoir and what thrust he wanted the movie to have that would stand in contrast to Lang’s staging and screenplay.

La Chienne was made first and then Lang re-made it in Hollywood but obviously with his signature style and tenor.

Here’s the plot: One night on a city sidewalk, a meek cashier and amateur artist (named Maurice Legrand in La Chienne, Christopher Cross in Scarlet Street) who’s married to a monstrous shrew comes to the aid of a young woman (Lulu/Kitty) being beaten by a debonair hoodlum kind (Dédé/Johnny). Infatuated, Maurice/Christopher courts the woman, who in turn is crazy about the hood. Since this coincides with the cashier’s wife threatening to throw out his paintings, he takes an apartment for his new beloved so he can visit her there and have a place to paint. Behind his back, the dame and her guy not only carry on their relationship, but sell the older man’s paintings, claiming that the woman has painted them (she’s discovered as a great new talent!). The cashier, who has been stealing money from his firm in order to support the woman, is shocked when he finds out the hoodlum is her lover. She laughs at him, and he kills her. He then stands by as the boyfriend is charged with murder and executed.

Lang starts the movie in the same way as Renoir with an office party hosted by the owner of the firm Chris has been working for many years. Lang introduces Christopher (Chris, for short) in scarlet street as a normal everyday middle-aged cashier who is being honored with an expensive pocket watch with his initials showing a rare gesture by the boss towards an employee commemorating Chris’s loyalty and trustworthiness. But Renoir introduces Mr. Maurice Legrand, played by Michel Simon in a similar office party atmosphere as a cashier but cuts a tragic figure right away among his office colleagues for his oddities and not being a good company overall. Maurice’s demeanor casts a mild, naive but depressive sorry figure who seems to find himself lonely wherever he might be put into. Maurice’s colleagues call him ‘life of the party’ but in a sarcastic, demeaning way and again, Maurice seems not to be bothered by any of the trash talk. He neither reacts nor responds giving the bullies more reasons to taunt.

Since Renoir’s movie was the precursor, this departure from Lang seems very interesting as we are not sure what a normal looking decent person might run into as the movie progresses. To give a peep into Chris’s mind, Lang shows the owner of the firm who’s also middle aged like Chris, at the end of the party to hook up with a much younger woman despite being married. Chris talks with his colleague of what would drive his boss to hook up with a young woman at his age. The attraction, the foolishness, the adventure of it all, seems to absorb Chris much more than usual. The seed has been sown about this insatiable temptation in men, that age can neither dither nor wither.

As Maurice walks back to his home from the party, he accidentally bumps into Lulu, the prostitute and her boyfriend, Dede. Dede is caught physically abusing Lulu and in a sudden act of saving Lulu from the attack, Maurice pushes Dede who blacks out from the attack. Slowly, Lulu cajoles Dede back into his senses and keeps assuring Dede that he will be fine. Maurice observes all this silently, unable to grasp the nature of this relationship but is equally smitten by the sweet talk of Lulu. Lang’s screenplay differs here; by showing Kitty as an actress instead of a prostitute like Lulu and in a departure from Renoir’s, Kitty’s boyfriend Johnny flees from the scene and Chris could not see the face of the attacker clearly but does seem to hold a vague memory of Johnny, which will turn its head later in the story.

A touch of Lang that I did not fail to observe here. As Chris drops Kitty at her home, he requests Kitty to have a cup of coffee with him at a restaurant place right below her flat. After some sweet talk, Chris unintentionally states his profession as a painter instead of a cashier. As they part for the night, Kitty offers Chris a flower from her table vase coyly saying – “so you won’t forget me”. This flower stalk becomes inspiration for Chris who after reaching home paints that flower stalk giving it his expression and painterly perception.  In this small conversation, we gauge how deeply besotted Chris is with Kitty and how offhandedly Kitty is treating this chance meeting. But then why did she offer that flower and underline it with that flirtatious statement? The mystery blooms.

The other relationship of Chris and Maurice with their respective spouses is also treated differently. Maurice, as with his office colleagues, does not mind his wife’s constant taunts. He does not show any emotion and hence we are not sure if he’s all bottled up or if he’s resigned to his fate. While Chris does react when his wife harasses him about his painting but does not carry it into an argument. He’s quick to apologize and adjust as needed. But he does show outward reaction, even if it is mild. But we never see a big altercation or an outburst of some kind from Chris. Again, he looks more in control of his emotions. So, in essence, when the final action does happen in either of the scenarios, when both the characters kill Kitty or Lulu, Maurice’s reaction manages to convey to the viewer a bigger shock than in the case of Chris.

A crucial part dealing with the nature of the relationship between Maurice and Lulu seems very physical even suggesting consummation. We always see Maurice kissing or touching Lulu in an ardent manner and Lulu seems to reciprocate his feelings, even if for her own selfish reason.  But Chris and Kitty seem to always hold a distance with Kitty keeping Chris at bay and not entertaining beyond a limit. There is even an exchange between Chris and his wife, where he states that he’s never seen a woman naked. Chris is constantly proposing marriage to Kitty which she cleverly keeps postponing. Kitty seems much more manipulative but again we see that this idea to take advantage of Chris was never hers and it was planned and orchestrated by her lover, johnny. Kitty seems to be innocent in this bargain and at the same time never shows any guilt or regret for taking undue advantage of Chris’s desire towards her.

Lulu seems soft both in manner and conversations, never raising her voice in any situation. Is she a snake hiding under the façade of an innocent flower?

How about Dede and Johnny, who are the main perpetrators of this romantic delusion for their own needs.  We see Dede in action in club and the money he seems to owe to his friend. He openly claims that he’s a pimp and not afraid to sell Maurice’s paintings as Lulu’s to make some money by any means. We never see Johnny in action as to what he does with all the money he takes from Kitty but we do get the sense that he’s a slacker of the worst kind and has no qualms whatsoever about who he is.

I had some reservations with the characterization of Lulu. She is in love with Dede, but does she have to be so openly flirtatious with even the art critics who are trying to sign Lulu to do a portrait of a famous person. Lulu under the fictious name of Clara Wood as a painter passing off Maurice’s paintings as hers. Her behavior cannot be in sync with the painter that she is portraying. The art dealers who seem to be serious about their eye for art will surely have found out. She might be promiscuous but need not use her charm here in such showy fashion. Kitty seemed so smart here when dealing with art dealers. She used the same words that Chris had used to describe his thoughts about painting and how painting is like a love affair, sometimes it takes a day to do a painting and sometimes months or years. Any serious art critic would be impressed with Kitty and would not raise a flag about her credentials as a painter.

There is very little exposition showing Maurice painting or discussing his art with Lulu. On the other hand, Chris though amateur, seems much more serious and well read about his art. The agony he experiences when his wife threatens to throw away all his paintings is very delectable and conveys a shared empathy that many would-be artists encounter in their pursuits. The sense of failure that connects us all and the over-arching theme of man being a pawn in the hands of fate unable to break out of his shackles is very palpable in Fritz’s vision. We are all forced to do something, in quest of something else is a common refrain that filmmakers all over the world constantly jostle with. A dilemma as ageless as civilization itself. 

Alas, there is laughter and then there is mocking laughter, the one that can precipitate one’s own tragic demise!

The dramatic end that upends Chris and Maurice’s life seems similar but is not. They both end up as homeless destitute, but they are left with a different state of mind. A study of their fates will give us an insight into how Lang and Renoir look at tragic characters and their perspective about guilt and retribution. For Lang, Chris struggles with his conscience seeing innocent Johnny being charged with murder and finally convicted for it with execution. Chris, with no job and no prospects, attempts to hang himself but in vain. Chris is beaten to death by his guilt, physically alive but as good as dead. Implying, a much harsher punishment awaits those that escape the noose of law and its elements.  

Maurice on the other hand, collapses in the court having heard the guilty verdict handed down to Dede. With the weight of the same guilt as Chris’s hanging heavily on his shoulders, he is not as hard on himself. Maurice does not try to kill himself, he’s a beggar living on people’s good will. Even though Maurice is broken, he’s still not as miserable as Chris. In fact, Maurice finds unexpected company in his former wife’s first husband, living on the streets like him. 

What if Maurice had handed over himself to the authorities and confessed his crime? He would have been executed but he could have resurrected himself as the original painter of the paintings that have now gained popularity and earn much deserved accolades post his demise. As artists have proven time and again nothing lasts like art. The final irony for Maurice is that he earns a coin in front of the art gallery at which his self-portrait has just been sold for a fortune!

Guilt is a complicated emotion which plays out differently in movies based on the character and the way the plot functions to deliver poetic justice. This is the closest a screenplay writer comes to acting a God and has the power to lay out his ideas of what constitutes a closure for the dastardly act. At times offering a redemptive opportunity and at times leaving no door open. One of the best movies that handled this emotion so well was Elia Kazan’s movie – On the Waterfront. The movie starts with Terry Malloy, played by Marlon Brando, being used as a puppet to kill his fellow worker. The entire screenplay keeps tugging at Terry’s heart, laying it out open as he struggles to handle the contrition, getting harder and harder to deal and live with. And finally, having tried everything, he pulls himself up ready to die by testifying against his dock workers union leader, who is more a mobster than a boss but not to live with remorse anymore.

There are dark clouds on the horizon, in both Scarlet street and La Chienne, but the clouds in Scarlet Street cast a bigger shadow, foretelling impending rain with rumbling thunder and ominous lightning.