THE SOUTHERNER

Cotton farmer Sam Tucker (Zachary Scott) and his family move to the American South. He decides to set up his own business and transform a hostile land into a fertile plantation. Despite the many natural constraints (torrential rains, famine) and the hatred of his neighbours, he succeeds in his gamble by dint of tenacity before the arrival of a terrible hurricane. But thanks to his stubbornness and the solidarity of several initially distrustful neighbours, Sam resumes his hard work, convinced that in the end the earth will reward him for his immense efforts. Considered the best film of Jean Renoir’s brief American period, it was likened by many critics to the cinema of Robert Flaherty. The Southerner – which boasts William Faulkner as its screenwriter and the young Robert Aldrich as its assistant director – won a prize at the 1946 Venice Film Festival, although it was not released in Europe until 1950. In this film, Renoir deals with the terrible conflict between man and nature – ‘you can almost smell the earth being shaken by the plough, beaten by the rain or heated by the sun’ – but nature is not the only great obstacle to be faced, there are also difficult human relationships.