Le jeune Karl Marx (2017)

English title: The Young Karl Marx

The German philosopher is sent to Paris to write for a socialist newspaper. He is married to an aristocratic woman whom he turns into a serial procreator. He befriends the son of a wealthy industrialist who revolts against his bourgeois upbringing and environment. Marx tries to inject a little theory into the workers' movement. He is expelled from France and relocates to Brussels.

Very well-behaved and nearly hagiographic biographical drama. I watched it mainly because I wanted to get a feeling of the socialist milieu and of the exact chronology of Marx and Engels' meanderings through Europe. I suppose the film satisfied those particular needs. Although it is hard to extract any real insight from such a conventional and superficial narrative, one might get struck by a perverse pattern which one may observe into our present days: people who cannot afford children have an abundance of them, and those who can afford them opt for not having any. Feminists are strangely silent on Jenny's predicament (they probably would not even admit it may be called that). One of the characters expresses disgust toward 'dirty money' which comes from her husband's family. I found it hard to believe that real people in need would be so simple-minded, and yet the film offers no challenging point of view. I have always considered Marx to be a disagreeable man with very foolish ideas, and this film did nothing to dispel such notion. The production design is first rate.

Rating: 40