Jean Renoir - La Bête Humaine

One of the things this film does very well is show a society. It represents, obviously like Les Rougons-Marquarts, a time machine of different people and aspects of a certain society. Now this is fascinating for the viewer. I think the reason that is so, is that viewers, all of them are naturally intelligent. When we go outside, we never just see one person walking around, or a pair. Rather, life is a complex counterpoint of varied streams, different people doing different things. These people however are not random streams, random motion, they have a certain character, and the tapestry woven by this varied interchange, represented with realism and fascinating detail, what makes this film great. Some of the things characters say are fairly unimportant in the grand scheme of a daily life, but that they are represented authentically, one after another, makes it come alive with a tremendous vitality.