Overview
A poignant exploration of the human spirit trapped in the grips of poverty and despair.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Slow
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- melancholic
- fatalistic
- bleak
- classic cinema night
- French cinema retrospective
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a significant and atmospheric example of prewar French poetic realism, while some find its treatment of poverty overly theatrical and uneven.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Film historian François Poulle identifies it as an early work in the poetic realism cycle produced before the Second World War.
The plot description explicitly presents poverty as an imprisoning force and stresses the difficulty of rising from social despair.
The story centers on slum dwellers and socially desperate people living at the bottom of society.
The overview explicitly contrasts the upper spheres of society with their ease of descent into the lower depths.
Films like The Lower Depths, and why
La Chienne
shared poetic realism, poverty-stricken milieu, naturalistic social observation, and fatalistic drama
Le Jour se lève
shared poetic realism, working-class despair, crime, and melancholic romantic entanglements
Pépé le Moko
shared prewar French poetic realism, criminal outsiders, bleak social conditions, and atmospheric fatalism
The Human Beast
shared literary adaptation, impoverished urban setting, social determinism, and tragic moral conflict
Movie Details
- Director
- Jean Renoir
- Release Date
- 1936-12-11
- Runtime
- 92 min
- Rating
- 7.2 / 10 (82)
Cast
- Jean Gabin
- Suzy Prim
- Louis Jouvet
- Jany Holt
- Junie Astor
- Nathalie Alexeief-Darsène
- Vladimir Sokoloff
- Robert Le Vigan
- Camille Bert
- André Gabriello
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Criterion Channel, France Channel Amazon Channel
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Lower Depths about?
- In a cramped underworld of poverty and desire, a thief, a prostitute, and a fallen aristocrat struggle against the social forces keeping them at the bottom.
- What is The Lower Depths like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Lower Depths as slow, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Lower Depths violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The Lower Depths as mild.
- What did critics think of The Lower Depths?
- Critics broadly regard the film as a significant and atmospheric example of prewar French poetic realism, while some find its treatment of poverty overly theatrical and uneven.
- Which films are like The Lower Depths?
- Films with a similar feel include La Chienne, Le Jour se lève, Pépé le Moko, and The Human Beast.
- How long is The Lower Depths?
- The Lower Depths runs 92 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Lower Depths?
- In United States, The Lower Depths streams on Criterion Channel, France Channel Amazon Channel.
