An example of the extraordinary and long-underestimated late Chaplins, in which the characteristic Chaplin type from his earlier work had made way for a more complex personality, one which fits in well with the characters from modern actor-director films such as those of Nanni Moretti. The appreciation for this mature side of Chaplin came late, but had been predicted by the likes of Jean Renoir: ‘Monsieur Verdoux ira un jour rejoindre dans l’histoire les créations des artistes qui ont bien mérité de notre civilisation’. The film is characterised by an apparently simple refined mise-en-scène. The settled actors’ directing is captured in calm shots displaying a command of every detail in the image.Mr. Verdoux, the protagonist and a lonely man, is at first the victim of a minor everyday drama. After years of faithful service as cashier at a bank, he is sacked. He finds himself in financial problems and is eventually scarcely able to support his handicapped wife and their child. He picks on a strange and sinister way of getting hold of money: he seduces unattractive but well-off ladies and marries them for their money. After the wedding he then kills them. But he also loses his new fortune in a stock-market crash. He is followed by a detective who he poisons. Verdoux loses his wife and child, and has to face a judge after all. He claims he was forced to act in a world where war and doing business are synonymous.
