La Bête Humaine

La Bête Humaine is a film directed by Jean Renoir and based on an Émile Zola book of the same name. It is in French. The title translates to "The Human Beast". The plot: Jacque Lantier is a train engineer with a history of episodes of violent mania. He blames this on the excessive drinking of his forebears. Séverine is the beautiful wife of a small town railroad stationmaster. Robaud is the stationmaster. Robaud learns that his wife was once the mistress of a wealthy man and plots to kill him. He believes that involving Séverine in the murder will bind her to him forever. The murder takes place on a train and Lantier witnesses the couple roaming the train at an incriminating moment. Lantier is taken with Séverine and lies to protect her. Despite the shared murder, Séverine's marriage deteriorates and she begins an affair with Lantier. Séverine begins a campaign to get Lantier to kill Robaud, but despite the demons beneath his surface he cannot go through with it. She uses her womanly wiles to push the issue and unfortunately that's when his hereditary madness kicks in and he kills her. Lantier reports for work the next day but the anticipation of his inevitable arrest gets to him and he jumps from the train.

Séverine is played by Simone Simon (See-moan See-moan) who would later become famous for Cat People.

Simone Simon