MovieChat Forums > Boudu sauvé des eaux (1967) Discussion > Film Club: Boudu as a Christ figure (spo...

Film Club: Boudu as a Christ figure (spoilers)

posted 16 years ago by thao
2 replies | jump to latest

I was wondering whether Boudu could be seen as a Christ figure. He makes Anne-Marie an honorable woman and so rich that she will never have to serve on anybody again. He introduces Mrs Lestingois to pleasures she did not know or had forgotten and returns her husband to her. And he helps Mr Lestingois to live an honest life.

And once Boudu has helped everyone, he disappears, maybe off to help other people. It is interesting that the scarecrow he picks up and undresses in the end is in fact a cross and the cross is even emphasised in the film, therefore maybe linking it to the story of Christ.

Boudu may have been saved from drowning but it was Boudu who saved the main characters in the film.

- No animal was hurt during the making of this burger -

[–] PoppyTransfusion 9 years ago

I agree with your concluding line but not the Christ parallels. Bondu introduces the material and sensual to the other characters. To me this is more the work of a satyr and it's interesting that Bondu meets a goat at the end.

A bird sings and the mountain's silence deepens.

[–] greenbudgie 8 years ago

I think that the cross frame of the scarecrow is just incidental to Boudu returning to being a tramp. Boudu is a charismatic character who is influential to the other characters. Because he refuses wine and glorifies death, I don't see him as a Christ figure. If anything, I associate him with The Fool in The Tarot. A person who seemingly is senseless, and who moves into peoples' lives and changes them. Then moves on.