Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier (1959)
Directed by Jean Renoir

Film Review

Jean Renoir's first collaboration with French Television yielded this quirky yet faithful adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.  In contrast to previous cinematic adaptations of that novel, Renoir sets the story in a contemporary setting (France of the 1950s) and manages to make the good doctor (renamed Cordelier) more of a villain than his brutal alter ego (Opale).  Whereas Opale's violence is spontaneous, a thoughtless response to an uncontrollable impulse, Cordelier's actions are far more calculated and wicked, and so it easier to sympathize with Opale than with Cordelier.  In this respect, Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier is closer to Stevenson' novel than most film versions.

One of the most striking aspects of this film is how it rigorously defines and contrasts the moral positions of the two principal characters, Cordelier and Opale.  This is partly down to a well-written script, which allows us to get into the minds of both characters, but probably has much more to do with the performance of the film's lead actor, Jean-Louis Barrault.   Throughout the film, it is hard to believe that both Cordelier and Opale were played by the same man.  With very little make-up, Barrault manages to transform himself from a cultivated and charming man of science into a loutish, carefree monster - an extraordinary achievement even for an accomplished actor.

Renoir's decision to have Barrault playing both characters so distinctively can be interpreted as a reference to the theories of Jung and Freud, that an individual is made up of two distinct personalities, one civilized, the other untamed - two forces in constant opposition   Renoir goes beyond this and, with Barrault's skilful complicity, manages to convince us that neither of these two aspects of a person's ego has moral superiority over the other.   In many ways, Renoir is re-treading ground he has already covered in his earlier masterpiece La Bête humaine (1938).  In both films, good and bad character traits are shown to exist side-by-side in the same individual, but the conclusion is that such characteristics do not necessarily make that person good nor bad; they are merely two sides of the same coin.

In both content and form, Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier is in marked contrast to those films which most people associate with Jean Renoir (La Grande illusion, La Bête humaine, La Règle du jeu, etc.).  However, when you consider the range and diversity in Renoir's oeuvre, this film appears scarcely out of place - it isn't even his first foray into science fiction.   One symptom of Renoir's genius was his flair for innovation and experimentation.  Not all of his more radical experiments were a success, but the fact that he was able to take a chance and try something different surely reinforces his standing as a director of great stature and importance.  Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier represents one of Renoir's most daring experiments - to make a cinematic film using the techniques and processes of television.   This was, after all, a film which was intended to be released in the cinemas at the same time that it was screened on French television.

Renoir's idea of merging television and cinema into one film is typical of the director's imagination and daring.  The film was recorded using the non-stop, multi-camera technique which was widely used for television dramas at the time.  A scene would be pre-rehearsed and then shot in its entirety with several cameras and the minimum of recording breaks.  This approach adds to the sense of modernity and disorientated atmosphere of the piece but it also weakens the film's credibility, since its faults are more apparent.  A number of scenes look rushed and amateurish and would have benefited from another take, and the pressure the actors were under does is palpably apparent in a few places.

The film's production faults were so noticeable that even Renoir felt unable to defend it.  Indeed, he believed that the venture was damned from the outset - a view which could only have been reinforced by the torrent of invective which film critics dished out once the film was released.   In addition, a dispute between the film's distributors and the television company that produced it resulted in transmission of the film being deferred to 1961, two years after it was seen in the cinemas.

To this day, Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier remains one of Jean Renoir's most obscure and underrated films; yet it also one of the most revealing about its creator.  Not only does it show Renoir's courage to take risks - even at a time when he was finding it more difficult to get financial backing for his films.  It also shows us - as many of his earlier films did - his acute understanding of the human psyche, his fascination with all aspects of human nature - particularly that tragic inability of human beings to control their own destinies, in spite of their intelligence or status in society.   For those who are prepared to forgive the film's imperfect presentation, this is an insightful and thought-provoking work, one which boldly addresses that universal conundrum about what it means to be human.

Film Synopsis

Dr Cordelier was once a renowned specialist in the field of modern psychiatry, although his more radical theories often brought him into conflict with his peers, none more so than Dr Séverin.  Now he lives a secluded life at his large residence in the suburbs of Paris, fanatically devoted to his private research into the behaviour of the human brain.  Cordelier is convinced he has made a breakthrough in understanding how the brain can be altered, for good or for bad, through physical stimuli.  One day, he summons his lawyer and closest friend, Maître Joly, and requests that he draft his last will and testament.  Joly is surprised, and a tad concerned, when the doctor insists on leaving his entire estate to a man he has never heard of, someone called Monsieur Opale.

The mysterious Monsieur Opale soon draws attention to himself, as he goes about town attacking women and children for no apparent reason.  After his nocturnal bouts of manic delinquency, Opale always returns to the safety of Cordelier's house, where no one can reach him.  Unable to account for the hold that the evil Opale has over his friend, Joly is forced to confront Cordelier after Séverin dies in suspicious circumstances.  The solution to the mystery lies in the good doctor's secret laboratory, but it is so fantastic, so monstrous that the lawyer can scarcely believe it.  It seems that Dr Cordelier and Mr Opale are one in the same man...