The Wages of Fear (1953)

The Wages of Fear (“Le salaire de la peur”)
Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot
Written by Henri-Georges Clouzot and Jérôme Géronimi based on the novel by Georges Arnaud
1953/France/Italy
Compagnie Industrielle et Commerciale Cinématographique (CICC)/Filmsonor/Vera Films/Fono Roma
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#412 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
IMDb users say 8.3/10; I say 9/10

[box] Mario: When someone else is driving, I’m scared.[/box]

Once I had seen this often enough to get over my own fear, I became fascinated by the artful way in which Clouzot builds almost unbearable suspense.

Mario (Yves Montand) is stuck in a stinking village in a Banana Republic without work or a visa. The only visible economic activity is an American oil development 300 miles away in the mountains.  Mario bides his time in the local bar dallying with barmaid Linda (Vera Clouzot).  He lives off the kindness of good-natured construction worker Luigi.  Into their world comes Jo (Charles Vanel), a tough guy,  Mario becomes fascinated with Jo and eventually abandons Luigi.

The universal wish of all the many expatriates in this hell hole is to escape. Mario holds on to a frayed Paris Metro ticket like a talisman.  One day, an oilwell blows up killing locals and starting a devastating fire.  The only way to put out the fire is by dynamiting the well.  Unfortunately, all the nitroglycerin is in the village and the only way to get it to the mountains is over unmaintained roads in trucks without special safety equipment.  The oil company decides that the desperate vagrants are ideally suited for this suicide mission. They are easily recruited with the promise of a handsome salary should they deliver the explosives to the oil site.  Mario, Jo, Luigi, and a German named Bimba are selected. Mario teams up with Jo who promises to tell Mario exactly “how it is done”.

The rest of the movie follows both trucks as they make their harrowing journey over the mountains. Jo develops feet of clay at the first obstacle and begs to go back to the village the rest of the way.  Suffice it to say that the men escape from the village but not from the cold hand of destiny.

Clouzot raised my anxiety to such a pitch the first time I tried to watch this movie that I could not finish.  The second time was better and now I can watch more or less dispassionately.  Every viewing reveals what a master of filmmaking and suspense Clouzot was.

Clouzot builds up slowly to the Third Act terrors he has in store.  He masterfully develops all his characters first and graphically illustrates why they would risk their lives to escape what clearly is The Worst Place on Earth.    But his master stroke is the character of Jo who starts out so hard and cocky and disintegrates before our eyes, with the audience’s fear building as Jo’s does.  Definitely a must-see movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAYCADJHImc

Trailer