195: Monsieur Verdoux

US  124m  Dir: Charlie Chaplin  Key Cast: Charlie Chaplin

Original Screenplay

This Charlie Chaplin film is unusual because here Chaplin doesn't play a version of his Little Tramp character and instead plays a serial killer. 

After working as a bank teller for three decades, Monsieur Verdoux had to work out how to financially support his disabled wife and their child. He resorts to marrying wealthy widows and killing them for their money. 

Chaplin gives perhaps his most realistic performance here- for the most part, Verdoux feels like a genuine human being as opposed to the comedy characters he had previously played. The character was based on a real person with the idea coming from none other than Orson Welles. There are several avenues for comedy. One is that this man appears to be hopeless at the wealthy widows he goes after and it seems a miracle he has continued to make money this way for some time. Another comes from Verdoux trying to avoid being found out- with the police on his tale this gradually becomes more difficult and leads to various fun slapstick moments. 

The highlight of the film is the speech Verdoux gives when he is in court where he compares his few murders to the many murders committed in wars for profit. While many films post-war dealt with the experience many people went through, putting this spin on it was not at all popular with American theater-goers. Nowadays, it works much better. 

Verdoux is a really interesting character. He is an awful, awful man who gaslights, uses and murders women and steals their money. He shouldn't be the slightest bit likable but somehow he is! We have an element of sympathy for him after learning he lost his job of 30 years and couldn't find another. Chaplin imbues him with so much charm he becomes quite likeable to watch and as a viewer part of you wants him to get away with it. The whole film creates this cognitive dissonance of an awful criminal who you struggle not to root for. 

A really interesting film and it's worth watching to see Chaplin do something different from his norm.