Renoir’s expansive humanism intersects with the more fatalistic domains of French poetic realism and film noir in this selective adaptation of Émile Zola’s 1890 novel. A train engineer (Gabin) at ease in the world of machines and male camaraderie becomes entangled with a beautiful, unhappy woman (Simone) and her jealous husband (Fernand Ledoux). Superbly acted and photographed, the film features stunning documentary-style railroad footage and a late set-piece dance-hall scene whose wealth of incidental detail nearly upstages the dramatic climax
