Monsieur Verdoux

The days of Chaplin's 'tramp' came officially to an end with MONSIEUR VERDOUX. His last film before VERDOUX however, contained a character unassociated with the tramp on paper, but in actions, was quite similar. With MONSIEUR VERDOUX though, Chaplin's on-screen persona was one clearly, and drastically different from that of the character that had made him a universal sensation. Because of this change, MONSIEUR VERDOUX was received poorly, and was considered a failure. Now, however, in 2011, MONSIEUR VERDOUX is considered one of Chaplin's best films, a cult film, and a great piece of art.
Coming from an idea of Orson Welles's, Chaplin wrote and directed an extension of that original idea. Post-war, Chaplin created a character named Monsieur Verdoux who made his living by marrying rich idiots, and then killing them to collect insurance money. Parading around Paris with matter-of-fact sensibilities and unlucky tendencies, Verdoux becomes older as the film progresses, and his once-booming 'business' of sorts, also deteriorates due to bad luck, and misplaced morality. The idea of a man doing such gross acts in the post-war is Chaplin's left-wing, controversial quasi-art, quasi-political statement. Artfully constructed, controlled, and acted, MONSIEUR VERDOUX seems more than any trite political allegory / importance, but a statement on complacency of morality in the face of greater tragedies, and / or the degeneration of an art form that previously allowed for elevation, to, in the same fashion, demand disintegration.
Monsieur Verdoux: ★★★★