Dr. Cordelier's Testament

Jean Renoir's 'The Testament of Dr. Cordelier' (1959) is one of film history's most strange and fascinating interpretations of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Renoir moves the story into postwar France, turning the familiar horror myth into a disturbing study of the divided nature of man. What if the monster does not come from outside, but already lives within us -- hidden behind the thin varnish of civilization?

The film follows the respected doctor Cordelier who, through experiments on himself, unleashes a violent and animalistic doppelganger. But where previous film versions have often focused on the spectacular effects of transformation, Renoir takes an interest above all in the moral and psychological implications. The result is both philosophical thriller, early psychological horror and a doppelganger nightmare, pointing forward at everything from David Lynch to David Cronenberg.

Recorded for French television, but with a freedom and ingenuity that only Renoir could muster, the film has been described by British film magazine Sight and Sound as “one of the strangest and most overlooked works in Renoir's late production”. Behind the seemingly simple narrative hides a deeply disturbing meditation on lust, violence and the dark sides of humanity—and on how fragile the boundary between civilized man and monster really is.

Directed by: Jean Renoir
Starring: Jean-Louis Barrault, Teddy Bilis, Michel Vitold
Country/year: France, 1959
Running time: 95 min.
Formato: 35mm
Language: Danish subtitles
Age limit: Allowed for children over 15
Original title: Le Testament du docteur Cordelier

Part of the series: The Monsters Who Changed Us
The monsters always come back. Maybe because they've never really left us. In collaboration with Golden Days, Cinemateket invites you to an idea-historical journey through the most fascinating creatures and nightmares in film history.