La Chienne

Jean Renoir’s *La Chienne* (1931) is an early sound-era French drama adapted from a Georges de La Fouchardière story, built around an ordinary man’s descent into humiliation, desire, and moral compromise. Its legacy extends beyond France; Fritz Lang later refashioned it in Hollywood as *Scarlet Street* (1945), a reminder of how transatlantic film noir borrowed from European realism. Screened as a live event at L’Alliance New York, the film’s plainspoken observation of class and self-deception still lands with sharpness.