The Life of Emile Zola

The 1938 10^th Academy Awards, the last year Best Dance Direction and Best Assistant Director were presented one final time and Louise Rainer became the first actress to win two Academy Awards and the first in any category win consecutive awards (Best Actress in The Great Ziegfeld and The Good Earth). Not only was The Life of Emile Zola the winner of Best Picture, but it was also the first film to receive 10 nominations, three of which it won (Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay).

Set in the mid-late 19^th Century, the film depicts the friendship between author Emile Zola (Paul Muni) and painter Cezanne (Vladimir Sokoloff) and Zola’s rise to fame through his writing, particularly on his involvement in the Dreyfus Affair.

The film begins as Zola shares a rather drafty attic with Cezanne while planning to write about the injustices and social ills of French society. His mother and fiancée, alexandrine (Gloria Holden) come by informing him that they found him a job with a publisher. One night, Zola and Cezanne are sitting in a café and a prostitute comes in to hide from a police raid. They help her hide and the event inspires Zola’s first bestseller, Nana, an expose of the underside of Parisian Life

After the success of other books, Zola becomes rich and famous, settling down with Alexandrine in his mansion to a comfortable life. When Cezanne, still a struggling poor and unknown painter, visits him before leaving Paris, he tells Zola that his success has made him complacent. He sees a different man than the zealous reformer he once shared an attic with.

At the same time, a French secret agent steals a letter addressed to a military officer in the German Embassy. The letter confirms a spy within the top French army staff. Immediately, the commanders place the blame on the Jewish Captain Alfred Dreyfus (Joseph Schildkraut). They court martial and imprison him on Devil’s Island.

Later, Colonel Picquart (Henry O’Niell), the new chief of intelligence, discovers evidence proving that Dreyfus is innocent and Major Walsin-Esterhazy (Robert Barrat) is the spy. However, his superiors order him to remain silent as to not embarrass the army and reassign him to a distant post.

Years later, Dreyfus’ wife Lucie (Gale Sondergaard) visits Zola and pleads with him to take up her caus. Reluctant to give up his comforts at first, his curiosity is piqued by new evidence. He publishes a letter that accuses the army of covering up the injustice and must escape a mob incited by military agents. However, he is also brought up on charges of libel. His attorney tries to argue against the judge’s refusal to bring up the Dreyfus Affair and the perjury by the military witnesses, but Zola is found guilty and sentenced to a year in prison. He then reluctantly take his friends’ advice and flees to England to continue his campaign.

Finally, a new administration admits Dreyfus’ innocence and those responsible for the cover-up are dismissed or commit suicide. Walsin-Esterhazy flees the country. The night before Dreyfus’ exoneration, Zola dies of carbon monoxide poisoning due to a faulty stove.

This film tells the story of Zola’s involvement with the Dreyfus Affair quite well. And the way Muni acts the part really gives the character the depth it needed. As the film starts off, Zola is a broke and budding author who wants to make his mark and change society for the better. But success makes him comfortable and complacent. After the wake-up call by Cezanne and being approached by Mrs. Dreyfus, the conflict of whether or not to give up his comfort for what he so desperately wanted in his youth is easily seen and felt. Also, when Zola makes his impassioned speech during the libel trial, his regained conviction is constantly present in his voice. It’s easily the best part of the film.

Also,  the fact that Dreyfus was Jewish, the sole reason he was chosen as the fall guy in real life, is barely brought up. Dreyfus' religion is shown once on his personnel file while the General staff look for someone to pin the blame on and after they choose him, it isn't mentioned  again. This isn't the film's fault though. Jack Warner didn't want the point discussed in the film, since he himself was Jewish. So, director William Dieterle did what he could to be historically accurate: hide the fact in the details of a personnel file. If anything, it makes one pay more attention to the film.

Almost everything else about the film is good. The only problems I have are in the early part of the film. It feels like the film goes through Zola’s early career a bit rapidly in favor of getting to his success. The film is supposed to be a biopic on the life of the author, but it mainly centers around his involvement with Dreyfus. While the story was told well, a bit more of his early life would have been nice. Also, there’s an early scene where Zola’s writing got the attention of the police, who confront him at work and warn him against writing anything inflammatory. This also gets him fired. This scene isn’t mentioned again, even in regards to his libel case. I feel like there should have been some follow through there somewhere. However, when the Dreyfus Affair goes down and Zola gets his wake up call, the film settles in just fine.

I’m sure this got Best Picture for how Zola stood up for Dreyfus. It could have been seen as a critique on the repression of the Third Reich.

Final Call: Good film with great acting but has some minor pacing issues and not enough of Zola's early life. It won’t break the Edge of Enjoyment, but it will become my #4.