AFS Essentials Presents Monsieur Verdoux

Henri Verdoux (of course played by Chaplin) is a Perraultian Bluebeard, who, after being nixed from his job as a bank teller, provides for his ailing wife and young child by charming, marrying and subsequently offing independently wealthy femmes, collecting the spoils in the wake of their wakes. You see, Mr Verdoux sees murder as nothing more than a business proposition, and if large corporations can fill mass graves and their pockets at the same time, then why shouldn't he be able to follow in lock-step, albeit on a much smaller and more personal scale? If we can fight big, useless wars so that corporations that make the tools of the trade can become richer and fatter, then all the better for capitalism, no? Far from being evil, Herr Verdoux simply wanted his little piece of all-American pie.

Dark and satirical, Monsieur Verdoux was resurrected from its cinema grave in 1964, at which time it struck a resounding chord with a nation that had torn itself to tatters over an unpopular war. Here again, at a time when our nation is tearing itself apart because it doesn't like the other's skin color/military leanings/house size/education level/vernacular/heritage/and all other manner of inconsequential and altogether situational human characteristics, Chaplin's film incites the masochistic tendencies in all of us, implicating us (yes, you and me) as the reason for everything that is wrong with society. Tongue wagging shall re-commence in 3...2...1...