Film

Monsieur Verdoux

Name: Monsieur Verdoux
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Released: 1947
Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Mady Correll, Allison Roddan, Robert Lewis, Audrey Betz

Serial killer

Chaplin's dark masterpiece about a suave serial killer who marries wealthy widows for their money. It's funny and horrifying by turns, a comedy that refuses to look away from the abyss. A genuinely strange experience: slapstick and murder, tenderness and contempt, made by a genius at peak provocation.

TMDb rating

3.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like your comedy sour and sharp, where a cold-blooded hero is pulled along by a running joke about respectability and the bourgeois world he serves.

Skip it if you need brisk momentum, because many scenes are talky and deliberately static, with long stretches of philosophising that stall the laughs for a while.

What it asks of you: Just over two hours of unhurried pace, with its moral chatter as demanding as its gags, so it rewards settling in rather than dipping in and out.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

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M1931

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Rope1948

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Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Monsieur Verdoux

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Kind Hearts and Coronets1949

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The Killing1956

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But The narrative jumps around and some scenes feel slight compared to others. Patience required.

In a Lonely Place1950

Ray's film noir about a volatile screenwriter accused of murder. Bogart gives one of his finest performances—charming and deeply unstable. It asks what charm is really hiding.

But There's a misogyny baked into the film's DNA that's hard to sit with, even though the film itself seems aware of it.

Sunset Boulevard1950

A dead man narrates the story of his own murder. Wilder's Hollywood gothic is as black as comedy gets, with equal parts satire and genuine sadness. The same bitter tone as Verdoux.

But Some of the satire lands harder than others, and the ending divides people on whether it earns its final judgment.

The Third Man1949

Carol Reed's Vienna-set thriller about friendship and betrayal. Orson Welles is magnetic as a charming, unscrupulous man. The moral ambiguity and the zither score make it unforgettable.

But It's deliberately paced and the romantic subplot doesn't convince everyone. The politics feel dated to some viewers.

Sweet Smell of Success1957

The nastiest, most quotable film about corruption in mid-century New York. Tony Curtis is loathsome and magnetic. Every character deserves what they get. Scabrous dialogue and perfect cinematography.

But It's relentlessly cynical and the characters are so vile that some find it exhausting rather than cathartic.

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie1976

Cassavetes' underworld film about a small-time hustler in over his head. Unpredictable, intimate, shot like a fever dream. Finds humanity in criminals without excusing them.

But The sound design is muddied, the narrative deliberately fragmented, and it's far more interested in mood than plot clarity.

A Prophet2009

Both trace the systematic evolution of a man into a predator, showing us the logic by which he justifies each step.

Jacques Audiard's brutal prison epic about a young man's moral corruption. It's shot with stunning precision and the protagonist's transformation is chilling. A modern Verdoux: how does a decent person become a criminal?

But It's violent, long, and deeply pessimistic. The French dialogue with subtitles demands attention. Some find it bleak rather than cathartic.

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu2005

Both films find dark comedy in systems that kill people—Verdoux murders directly, Lazarescu dies through indifference. Same moral reckoning, different mechanisms.

Romanian cinema at its most unflinching. An old man dies slowly in a hospital while bureaucracy grinds on. It's a comedy of cruelty with no villain you can point to—the system itself is the killer.

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