Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.
Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1952 suspense thriller Wages of Fear (La Salaire de la Peur to the French) is one of his most highly regarded masterpieces, along with Diabolique (1955). The action is heart-stopping at times, but it’s also well-grounded in both rich character development and philosophical underpinnings.
Historical Background: Henri-Georges Clouzot is sometimes referred to as the “French Hitchcock” though it would certainly be fairer to call Hitchcock the “English Clouzot.” It’s not that Clouzot quite matched the brilliance of the illustrious Hitchcock, but that Clouzot served more as one of Hitchcock’s sources of inspiration than the other way around. It’s probably equally unfair to refer to Clouzot as “Old Wave” though it was quite evident that his formalistic and largely studio-based style of filmmaking was precisely what the French New Wavers were rebelling against. From the vantage point of more than thirty years later, we don’t have to choose sides. We have the luxury of relishing both the immediacy of the New Wave films and the formalistic perfectionism of the likes of Clouzot. Though Wages of Fear is set in Brazil, it was filmed entirely in studios in France, meaning that Clouzot had to effectively reproduce the Brazilian atmosphere entirely from scratch. Clouzot had worked in Brazil for several years and had married a Brazilian actress, making her Véra Clouzot, and was able to achieve a remarkable degree of verisimilitude. Véra Clouzot had significant roles in both Wages of Fear and Diabolique. Yves Montand stars in Wages of Fear while his wife, Simone Signoret, later starred in Diabolique. So, in some respects, these two great masterpieces of Clouzot were family affairs.
The Story: Although I often dwell more on plot details than some other film reviewers (to provide the grist for analysis), I make an exception for suspense films for which the twists and developments are an especially large part of the film’s interest for first time viewers. I will therefore outline the storyline only up to the point where unexpected developments begin to occur.
The story opens in a decrepit rural town in Brazil called Las Piedras. The population of the town consists of a mix of European outcasts and the mostly black indigenous people. There’s far too few jobs to go around and it’s mostly too hot to want to work anyway. The chief occupations of the adults are lazing about in recliners, swatting flies, wiping the sweat from their brows, and snarling at one another. A half-naked native boy has found entertainment in stringing together four cockroaches on a thread. The only employer in the vicinity is an American oil company, Southern Oil Company (SOC). SOC is unionized, however, and is restricted from hiring nonunion employees, so it has little to offer either the European drifters or the natives.
One of the numerous vagrants is Mario (Yves Montand), a young exile from Corsica. He’s a raffish thief who wears a low cut T-shirt, a neckerchief, and a soiled white suit. Even reduced to this shabby appearance, he is the most virile young man in this hellhole and is therefore the love interest of Linda (Véra Clouzot), the barkeeper’s sexy helper. The unsentimental Mario treats her callously, but she chases after him anyway. Mario’s tedium is broken a bit by the arrival of a newcomer, French gangster Jo (Charles Vanel), who is on the run from Paris. His imposing demeanor suggests opportunity and Mario is soon showing him around what passes for a town, including his own room that he shares with a slow-witted, Italian laborer named Luigi (Folco Lulli). Maria sums up the situation in Las Piedras succinctly, remarking “It’s like a prison here. Easy to get in but no exit. If you stay, you croak.” The Europeans in this town have no way to make money and therefore no way to get out of town. Besides, the situation is pretty much the same in any town or city close enough to reach. Another one of the tough guys in this town is a blond Aryan, Bimba (Peter Van Eyck), who looks like a Nazi renegade (though he turns out to be a renegade from the Nazis). At times, there are confrontations between the snarling men who hang out at the bar. On one such occasion, Jo, armed with a gun, stares down Luigi. Then, he hands Luigi the gun and dares him to shoot him. Jo thus establishes himself as the toughest guy around, at this point.
The aimless routine suddenly changes when an oil rig fire breaks out in one of the SOC oilfields 300 miles away. The firefighters are at a loss to put the fire out. The one hope to end it is explosives but the necessary quantities of liquid nitroglycerin are located near Las Piedras and the special equipment required for transport is not available. The oil company needs volunteers willing to risk their lives to truck the nitroglycerin 300 miles over rough and rutted roads to the oil rigs. They’ll have to be nonunion locals since the union will not stand for that kind of risk for their union workers. Four drivers are needed for two trucks, two drivers apiece. There is so much poverty and desperation in Las Piedras that an offer of $2000 per driver draws plenty of volunteers. After a competitive evaluation of driving skills, four men are selected: Bimba, Luigi, Mario, and another man. Jo is promised a spot if any of the others don’t show up at the appointed time. When the last of the men mysteriously disappears, Jo duly takes his place. Mario and Jo are teamed up in one truck; Bimba and Luigi in the other.
The entire second half of the film follows the dangerous journey of the two trucks and four truckers across the rugged rural terrain. One substantial jolt could cause either truck to blow sky-high. The four tough guys are effectively tethered together like the cockroaches of the film's opening, walking on a wire, suspended between life and death. Almost immediately, Jo begins to show signs of tension and cowardice, in sharp contrast to his bravado back in town. “It’s division of labor,” he says. “You drive and I’ll worry.” They encounter one obstacle after another. There’s a section of road with ruts that has to be taken at just the right speed to avoid vibrations that would set off the explosives. There’s a rickety old bridge over a ravine and, later, a large boulder that has fallen into the middle of the narrow road from a roadside cliff. Bimba ingeniously rigs a device to ignite a small quantity of nitroglycerin dripped into a hole drilled into the rock to blow it to bits. Later, they encounter a deep pool of oil from a broken oil line inundating the roadway.
Do any or all of them make it to the destination? Do they collect their big paycheck? These are the questions that I must leave unanswered – in fairness to Clouzot and his potential viewers.
Themes: The most obvious theme here is desperate men committed to a task struggling not only against the elements of nature but with their own ideas of courage, honor, and will to survive. What makes this film deeper than the standard Hollywood action film is that it implicitly addresses existential questions. There are times in the odyssey when the men can only succeed by working together and other times where success requires that one man be forced to submit to the will of another.
The other major theme is economic exploitation and the dehumanizing effect of poverty. The men of Las Piedras live in such hopelessness and desperation that even the offer of a highly dangerous assignment, amounting to little more than a game of Russian Roulette, seems like a chance at freedom. So imprisoned are these men by poverty that they are prepared to accept any risk for a shot at escape. The entire first half of the film, through its leisurely pace, brilliantly establishes the monotony and wretchedness of impoverishment. The American oil company is so harshly depicted by the film that the film was cut by some 43 minutes prior to its release in America, to appease American sensibilities and, secondarily, to eliminate scenes depicting a degree of male bonding suggestive of repressed homosexuality. The foreman and administrators of the SOC are shown as willing to engage in a variety of unethical practices that risk the lives of employees or to protect themselves from financial responsibility for accidents. The issue of unethical acts driven by the greed for oil profits is as apt a topic in relation to America today as it has ever been.
Production Values:Wages of Fear is a superbly directed film with an intricate script that delivers taut suspense. I admire films like this one that deliver the story largely through the visuals and the editing rather than relying mainly on dialog for exposition. Clouzot’s instincts for building suspense and appropriate pacing are impeccable. The entire first hour is devoted to establishing the characters, which deepens the tension and our understanding of motivations during the suspenseful second half of the film. The characters continue to develop in the second half as well. The relationship between Jo and Mario goes through something of a role reversal. In the beginning, Mario looks up to Jo as something of a mentor figure but later, it is Jo who falls apart emotionally and Mario who takes charge. Jo reveals his human frailty in the form of cowardice. It is rare for a suspense film to provide viewers with such realistic and believable characters. Some viewers object to the film’s ending, but Clouzot was known to be a heartless director, sparing his audiences no pain. To me, the ending was fully appropriate and in the best tradition of irony. I’ve seen it used in another film, but I’ll again avoid giving the ending away by specifying that film.
Armand Thirard provides rich black-and-white cinematography and the score by Georges Auric adds to the dramatic tension. Clouzot’s editing is highly effective in generating a long series of surprises for the audience.
Although the performances of some of the secondary characters were no better than fair, the half-dozen most central cast members were superlative. Although Yves Montand had already appeared in several movies, this was his first significant role in a high quality film and it helped launch him as an international star. I’ve seen him in several other films, but never at such a young age. Some of his other performances occurred in The Sleeping Car Murder (1965), La Guerre est Finie (1966), Z (1969), The Confession (1970), State of Siege (1972), Tout Va Bien (1972), Jean de Florette (1986), and Manon of the Spring (See Jean de Florette/Manon). Charles Vanel’s performance as Jo was outstanding as well, especially because his character goes through dramatic changes. The part was originally offered to Jean Gabin, but he was worried that portraying a coward would damage his career. Vanel's other work includes Diabolique (1955), To Catch a Thief (1955), and Three Brothers (1980). Peter Van Eyck was noteworthy as Bimba. The talented Véra Clouzot got stuck with the least well-scripted part, in my opinion. I also liked William Tubbs as the foreman of the oil company. He previously appeared in Paisan (1946).
Bottom-Line: When this film was shown in the United States in the 1950’s, it was in a version that butchered 43 minutes out of the original – not for dramatic purposes, but to spare Americans the inconvenience of criticism of American business practices or the mere hint of repressed homosexuality. I am reminded of another film that I recently reviewed (The Leopard) in which the same kind of paternalistically-motivated butchering was applied to the American release, prompting its director to comment that Hollywood treats the American populace “like a public of children.” Now, thanks to Criterion DVD’s, we can all enjoy these great films like adults, even if decades after their initial release. Moreover, the quality of the transfer is superlative. There are no extras other than a short essay and chapter listing inside the cover.
Wages of Fear deservedly won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1953. It has influenced the suspense thriller genre to a considerable extent and films like Speed (1994) with Sandra Bullock can be considered derivative of its concept, though failing to match its quality. If you love action mixed with suspense, you’ll love this film. In the bargain, you’ll also get great characters and just a soupçon of existential themes. Wages of Fear is in French with English subtitles and has a running time of 148 minutes.
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You might want to check out these other excellent films from France:
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