Monsieur Verdoux is a 1947 American black comedy film directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin, who plays a bigamist wife killer inspired by serial killer Henri Désiré Landru. The supporting cast includes Martha Raye, William Frawley, and Marilyn Nash.

The film concerns a former bank teller who marries and murders wealthy women in order to support his wife and child. It was controversial upon its release for its dark tone and critique of war and capitalism, and was consequently a critical and box office failure. Because the film was released around the same time that Chaplin was facing accusations of being a Communist, it was boycotted by several civic groups and damaged Chaplin's career.

Chaplin was subjected to unusually hostile treatment by the press while promoting the opening of the film, and some boycotts took place during its short run. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times said the film was "tediously slow" in many stretches but said that Chaplin's "performance is remarkably adroit and that those who assist him, especially Miss Raye, are completely up to snuff." At one press conference to promote the film, Chaplin invited questions from the press with the words "Proceed with the butchering". Richard Coe in The Washington Post lauded Monsieur Verdoux, calling it "a bold, brilliant and bitterly amusing film". James Agee praised the film as well, calling it "a great poem" and "one of the few indispensable works of our time". Agee continued: "It is not the finest picture Chaplin ever made, but it is certainly the most fascinating." Evelyn Waugh praised Monsieur Verdoux as "a startling and mature work of art", although Waugh also added that he thought "there is a 'message' and I think, a deplorable one" in the film.

The film was popular in France, where it had admissions of 2,605,679. In 1948, a Parisian named Verdoux and employed in a bank brought an unsuccessful suit against Chaplin, alleging that his coworkers had mocked him for his name during the period of the film's advertisement.

Modern appraisal

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 97% approval rating based on 37 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Charles Chaplin adds an undercurrent of malice to his comedic persona in Monsieur Verdoux, an unsettling satire that subverts the tramp's image to perversely amusing effect."

In the decades since its release, Monsieur Verdoux has become more highly regarded. The Village Voice ranked Monsieur Verdoux at No. 112 in its Top 250 "Best Films of the Century" list in 1999, based on a poll of critics. The film was voted at No. 63 on the list of "100 Greatest Films" by the French magazine Cahiers du cinéma in 2008.

Accolades

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! scope="col" style="width:20em;"| Award/association

! scope="col" style="width:1em;"| Year

! scope="col" style="width:12em;"| Category

! scope="col"| Recipient(s) and nominee(s)

! scope="col"| Result

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! scope="row" | Academy Awards

| 1948

| Best Original Screenplay

| Charlie Chaplin

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! scope="row"| Blue Ribbon Awards

| 1948

| Best Foreign Film

| rowspan="3"| Monsieur Verdoux

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! scope="row" | Bodil Awards

| 1948

| Best American Film

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! scope="row"| National Board of Review

| 1947

| Best Film

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|-

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References

Sources

  • DVD Journal article by Mark Bourne
  • Monsieur Verdoux: Sympathy for the Devil an essay by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky at the Criterion Collection