Pasteur (1935): A stiff but weirdly fascinating history lesson

Is it worth your time?

If you get a kick out of historical figures standing around in offices arguing about invisible bugs, you'll be fine. If you need pacing or, you know, things actually happening, maybe skip it. This isn't exactly Liebelei when it comes to keeping the energy up.

The whole thing feels like a lecture. A very polite, very French lecture from 1935. You can tell Sacha Guitry was interested in the man more than the science.

The vibe

There is a lot of talking. Like, so much talking. Most of the movie takes place in rooms with wood paneling where men with very intense mustaches yell at each other about why you shouldn't touch surgical tools without cleaning them first. It’s funny because, in hindsight, they are fighting about stuff that is just basic common sense now. The audacity of the medical board to just flat-out refuse to wash their hands is almost impressive in its stubbornness.

Maurice Schutz plays Pasteur with this weary, hunched-over intensity. He looks like he’s constantly carrying the weight of every microscopic organism on his shoulders. He doesn't play him like a superhero. He plays him like a guy who’s just tired of being right while everyone else is being an idiot.

Odd little things

• The beards. The facial hair in this movie deserves its own credit. It’s glorious and distracting.
• The way characters just stand in the center of the frame and deliver speeches directly at the camera. It’s not subtle.
• The silence. There are moments where you can almost hear the camera whirring in the background.

There's this one scene near the middle where the tension is supposed to be high—the rabies vaccine test—and the movie just decides to hang out in a room for an extra minute too long. The silence becomes kind of heavy, honestly. You start noticing the wallpaper patterns. You start wondering if the actors are just as bored as you are.

It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s got this weirdly earnest charm. It feels like the filmmakers really, really wanted you to know that Pasteur was a good guy. Sometimes the movie tries a little too hard to convince you that we should all be bowing down to his brilliance. It gets a little repetitive, like hearing your grandpa tell the same story about his commute to work for the tenth time.

I wouldn't call this a "must-watch." It’s more of a "watch if you’re bored on a rainy Tuesday" kind of thing. It’s definitely not Resurrection in terms of emotional impact, but it has its own dusty, academic flavor. 🧪