Le martyre de l'obèse: A strange, messy trip through heartbreak

Is it worth a watch?

Look, if you are the kind of person who needs a tight, three-act structure and characters you can actually root for, skip this. You will probably find it slow, maybe even a bit mean-spirited. But if you have a soft spot for weird, forgotten relics from the 1930s where the humor feels a little dusty and the stakes are weirdly petty, you might get a kick out of it. It’s definitely not for everyone, but I’ve seen worse ways to spend an afternoon.

The premise is simple enough: a woman gets cheated on and decides the best revenge is to make her husband jealous with a guy who clearly doesn't fit the 'leading man' mold. It’s petty. It’s childish. It’s honestly kind of relatable in the worst way possible.

Notes from the couch

• The pacing is all over the place. Sometimes it feels like a stage play that forgot to leave the theater, and other times it just rushes through big emotional shifts like they’re nothing.
• There is a scene near the middle where the fat man is trying to be romantic, and it goes on about thirty seconds too long. You can feel the screen just waiting for someone to say something, but they just keep staring at each other. It’s agonizing.
• The way the husband looks at the camera sometimes? It’s like he knows he’s the villain, but he’s having too much fun with it to care.

It’s not as polished as The Spanish Dancer, that’s for sure. It lacks that big-budget sheen, but there’s a grit to it that I actually kinda liked. It’s almost like the movie is embarrassed to be seen in public, which makes it feel oddly human.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Le martyre de l'obèse (1933) through its definitive frames.

There is a lot of talk about weight and appearance, which, yeah, is a bit dated and rough around the edges. It’s not trying to be a deep, meaningful take on body image. It’s just trying to be a comedy about people being jerks. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it just makes you want to look at your phone.

I found myself thinking about The Barber Shop while watching this. Both films have this weird, circular energy where nobody really learns anything, and the chaos just keeps spinning until the credits decide to stop the ride. It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s sticky. It stays with you in a way that better, more professional movies don't.

Anyway, don't go in expecting greatness. Just go in expecting a weird, slightly uncomfortable afternoon with people who have no idea how to talk to each other. 🤷‍♂️