Jency Reviews: The Life of Emile Zola (1937)

I watched the film The Life of Emile Zola (1937), a film based off a French biographical novel, in my Oscar Film Club and really felt moved by Emile Zola. I love that the film starts with Emile being a young starving writer, who has palled up with Suzanne— a famous French painter— and the two of them are working on their art in the attic of some old, dilapidated old building. That visual of the two of them working together in the attic will stick with me forever, because it reminds me of how every artist starts with nothing, like a canvas or paper or an empty page, and in this movie we love watching him have his first sale of a piece of literature that he writes.

We get so excited about his book being published because of how they set him up as being so destitute at the beginning. Then we watch as Emile goes through different stages in his career, from writing from the deep passions of his soul about controversial topics to then just writing for his audience due to his popularity (becoming quite rich and having everything you could ever want materialistically and getting a bit fat on life and lazy). And I love when the end of the second act of the film where he finds out about an injustice that he must speak out on. It triggers his youthful soul, with his irreverent courage that leads him to tell the truth to the public about the Dreyfuss affair (a Jewish officer that was wrongly accused of treason).

I love all the speeches in the third act in the courtroom about what Emile believed. While they were burning his books and thinking he was crazy for standing up for this Jewish man, he didn’t budge. He was willing to lose his popularity for the goodness of humankind, which reminds all of us how we all start in that attic, with no success in our careers, and compels us to not get too fat or lazy when get comfortable and to be courageous and proud with what we truly believe. And to stand up for injustice when it matters.

I could not stop thinking about this movie for a whole week. it left me with such a strong message. I know that must be why it won the Oscar- the audience must have felt the same. I highly recommend this film. For all the artists out there, at every stage of their career. Go watch The Life of Emile Zola.

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