The Wages of Fear (film)
"The Wages of Fear" is a 1953 French thriller directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, renowned for its suspenseful narrative and complex character relationships. Set in the fictional Mexican village of Las Piedras, the film follows four desperate European men hired by the Southern Oil Company to transport volatile nitroglycerine to extinguish a raging oil field fire. The characters include Mario, Jo, Bimba, and Luigi, each representing different national backgrounds and experiences that shape their interactions and the unfolding tension.
The perilous journey is fraught with danger, leading to tragic consequences, including the death of Luigi and a critical accident involving Jo. Despite successfully completing the mission, Mario ultimately succumbs to a reckless fate. The production faced numerous challenges, including adverse weather conditions and health issues among the cast and crew, which contributed to significant delays and budget overruns. Upon its release, the film received both critical acclaim and commercial success in France, though it faced censorship in the United States due to its critical portrayal of American corporate practices. "The Wages of Fear" stands out not only for its gripping plot but also for its exploration of human desperation and moral dilemmas.
The Wages of Fear (film)
- Release Date: 1953
- Director(s): Henri-Georges Clouzot
- Writer(s): Henri-Georges Clouzot; Jérome Geronimi
- Principal Actors and Roles: Vera Clouzot (Luigi); Yves Montand (Mario); Peter Van Eyck (Bimba); Charles Vanel (Jo)
- Book / Story Film Based On: Le Salaire de la Peur by Georges Arnaud
The Wages of Fear is a French thriller film directed by legendary thriller director, Henri-Georges Clouzot. The film follows a group of four down and out Europeans in a small Mexican town, who are hired to transport dangerous chemicals to stop a fire in an oil field.
Director Clouzot, a rival of Alfred Hitchcock in the thriller genre, set out to cast a diverse group of Europeans, all with different backgrounds that would contribute to their complicated relationships onscreen. For the role of Jo, a Frenchman, Clouzot cast the French actor Charles Vanel, who would later go on to win awards for his performance in the film. For the Dutch Bimba, Clouzot cast German actor Peter van Eyck, and the Italian actor Folco Lulli in the role of good-natured Italian Luigi. For the lead role of the Frenchman Mario, Clouzot set his eyes on previously unknown stage actor Yves Montand from Italy. Montand had only appeared in a handful of stage productions, but his good looks and well-toned physique inspired Clouzot to take a chance. Clouzot had to repeatedly ask Montand to play the role of Mario. Montand34 continually turned the director down, until one day he finally gave in.
Plot
The film is set in Las Piedras, a small remote village in the Mexican desert. The townspeople rely on the American business, Southern Oil Company (or, SOC) for employment, although SOC is notorious in Las Piedras for severely abusing and manipulating their workers, skilled at avoiding the eyes of the law. Despite being aware of their mistreatment, the townspeople do not organize against the oil company due to their heavy reliance on the business.
One day, the SOC suffers a huge catastrophe when a substantial fire breaks out in one of their oil fields. The flames can only be put out if the SOC sets off an explosion using the highly volatile chemical, nitroglycerine. Unfortunately, because Las Piedras is so far removed from everything, the only way to transport the nitroglycerine is in flimsy canisters, usually designed for moving gasoline, in trucks. The nitroglycerine is located at the SOC’s headquarters, which is located hundreds of miles from Las Piedras. Staying consistent with their shady business practices, SOC deems the job too dangerous for any of their union employees, and instead look to the desperate townspeople of Las Piedras. To make the deadly mission more attractive to the villagers, the SOC offers a $2,000 compensation for each driver. Mario and Jo, two Frenchmen who have bonded over similar history living in Paris, as well as Dutchman Bimba and Italian Luigi, all anxious for work, apply for the positions.
The SOC finally selects four drivers who have been chosen for the drive: Mario, Bimba, Luigi, and a German. However, when the German driver fails to show up, Jo takes his place. The men set out on their perilous journey—Mario and Jo in one truck, and thirty minutes apart in case of an explosion, Luigi and Bimba in another. The drive is as hazardous as is to be expected, and the men are forced to deal with one obstacle after another. They must drive carefully over rocky roads, knowing that a particularly large bump could explode their cargo at any moment. In a freak accident, the truck occupied by Luigi and Bimba explodes, killing both men. When Mario and Jo catch up to the explosion, they come across a large hole filling with oil. Desperate not to get stuck in the hole, Mario accidentally runs Jo over with the truck, critically wounding him.
Mario completes the drive and is showered with praise, but he collapses with exhaustion and mourns the death of his friend, Jo. After his recovery, Mario collects his wages, and heads to a party held in his honor. However, on the way there, Mario begins driving wildly until he accidentally crashes and dies.
Significance
Clouzot initially intended to shoot The Wages of Fear in Spain, but Montand was adamant in his refusal to film anything in Spain as long as Fascist dictator Francisco Franco was still in power. After much disagreement, Clouzot eventually gave in and was resigned to shooting the film in the south of France, building the entire fictional Mexican village of Las Piedras from scratch. As a result, the production of The Wages of Fear was plagued with many hardships, echoing the struggles and obstacles faced by the film’s lead characters. Due to the change in shooting location from Spain to France, the production was faced with an unusually rainy season. Shooting began in August of 1951 after the construction of the Las Piedras mock village, and was supposed to be finished after nine weeks of filming. However, due to the incessant downpours, sets were continually destroyed and many shooting days had to be cut short, postponed, or cancelled altogether. In addition, Clouzot’s wife, who played the girlfriend of Mario in the film, became sick, and Clouzot himself even broke his ankle. Montand and Vanel contracted conjunctivitis after prolonged exposure to petroleum and fumes while filming a scene. After three months of this, the production was more than fifty million francs over budget, and only half of the film had been shot, prompting Clouzot to shut down the set and wait for better weather. Six months later, filming resumed and finally production wrapped in the summer of 1952.
The film opened in France in 1953 to both critical and popular acclaim, attracting nearly seven million people to the box office. The Wages of Fear became the fourth highest grossing film in France for all of 1953, and brought international attention to its director Clouzot. Due to its negative portrayal of the American oil company, United States censors deemed the film "anti-American" and when it was finally released in the United States in 1954, twenty-one minutes of the film were cut. The film won the Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as best actor recognition for Charles Vanel.
Bibliography
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