The Wages of Fear (BFI UHD)

Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Screenplay by: Henri-Georges Clouzot & Jérôme Géronimi
From the novel by: Georges Arnaud
Starring: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Folco Lulli, Peter van Eyck, Véra Clouzot
Country: France
Running Time: 152min
Year: 1953
BBFC Certificate: 12

Several years ago, when I was broadening my cinematic horizons I was recommended two films by famed French director Henri-Georges Clouzot – his taut 1955 psychological thriller, Les Diaboliques and this film, 1953’s The Wages of Fear. While the former felt like familiar ground, its Hitchcockian stylings and noirish tale of spousal revenge delivering a solidly entertaining thriller with a superb twist, The Wages of Fear was a different beast altogether.

Set in a dusty South American town and centering around a group of multicultural European outcasts, The Wages of Fear immediately exudes an air of other-worldliness, with its melting pot of accents and languages. There’s a constant suggestion that this group of men have each found their way to this town to escape something, however their backstories are never really revealed, only adding to the mystery of the film. Each of them are trying to find a way back out to some semblance of civilization and, when a nearby oil rig catches fire, the local American oil company throws them a lifeline – they need four men to transport volatile nitroglycerine across the inhospitable land to help put out the fire. The pay would be enough to escape the town and its people, but the catch is that this is likely to be a suicide mission as the nitro is liable to explode if jostled too much.

Part noirish psychological drama, part action thriller, there really is a bleak sense of existentialism cutting through what on the surface would appear to be a straightforward story. With most of the characters having very little redeemable qualities, to the undercurrents of racial persecution and toxic masculinity (Vera Clouzot pops up in a small role as Linda, being the sole female presence in the main cast) and even a dark early scene showing the effects that not being able to escape this hostile environment has on one young man, it’s a much darker affair than you’d imagine – and that’s only in the first half of the story! Once the nitro transportation begins, Clouzet takes his time to show the pain (sometimes literally) on his actors faces as they arduously and slowly drive their trucks across the rugged landscape, knowing that one pothole could mean the end of them.

This final stretch of the story has a genuine and frequent sense of danger and peril, with some genuinely well constructed set pieces. The lack of modern digital effects also give these scenes a sense of brutal realism, aided by the location shooting, as well as stunts and sequences that are clearly putting the actors through the ringer in a very gruelling fashion. The Wages of Fear is a big story painted in very precise strokes and at 2 and a half hours, Clouzot gives this dark parable plenty of time to breathe. Ambiguous, with a sense of hopelessness and nihilism that cuts through the story right to its final shot, The Wages of Fear is an excellent film that feels both epic and small scale at the same time and comes highly recommended.

The source novel by Georges Arnaud was adapted again in 1977 by William Friedkin as the also brilliant Sorcerer, and I discovered in the course of writing this review that there’s another adaptation coming later this year to Netflix – sadly, judging by the trailer, this version looks to be rather drearily a straight up action movie, utterly missing the point of the story entirely.

Bonus Features

• 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• A Road Trip Out of Hell? Or Into It? – Purgatory and The Wages of Fear (2023, 13 mins): a new video essay by filmmaker and photographer Nic Wassell
• Audio commentary by film critic Adrian Martin (2017)
• Interview with assistant director Michel Romanoff (2005, 23 mins)
• Interview with Clouzot biographer Marc Godin (2005, 10 mins)
• Interview with Professor Lucy Mazdon (2017, 35 mins): an in-depth interview about Henri-Georges Clouzot and The Wages of Fear
• The Guardian Lecture: Yves Montand in conversation with Don Allen (1989, 99 mins, audio only): the star discusses his distinguished career
• Treasures form the BFI National Archive (1920-1960, 30 mins): a selection of archive gems, exploring some of the themes and iconography featured in The Wages of Fear
• Original theatrical trailer
• **FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet featuring writing on the film, original reviews and an appreciation of Clouzot by Paul Ryan

I always love checking out older films on modern high definition formats and The Wages of Fear absolutely shines in this UHD release from BFI. The increased resolution on the image really pulls out the details, adding some beautiful depth to the location shots and provide the image with a real sense of the grime, dirt and sweat on the characters. The HDR as well adds such fantastic clarity and contrast to the black and white image and the film looked utterly gorgeous on my OLED screen.

As with many UHD releases, though, the bonus features included are mostly the same as to be found on the previous Blu-Ray release from the BFI, with the exception of a new video essay digging into some of the themes presented in the films ideas of isolation, as well as a lovely selection of short films from the BFIs archive which thematically tie into the film – these are fairly short and well worth digging into!