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Was Captain Renault smitten by that young bride?

posted 10 years ago by ProffessorMarvel
8 replies | jump to latest

I was watching Casablanca recently and I think that Captain Renault might have had a bit of a crush on the young bride that comes to Rick for help. If you read between the lines you can see him look jealous when the bride gives Rick a hug when leaving - a hug that Captain Renault is obviously too shy to try to win! His jealousy builds throughout the scene and, after everyone sings their old college song, he shuts the nightclub down for no reason but sheer spite!

He also asks Rick why he (Rick) would spoil "A Little Romance" for him (Renault). At first I thought that he (Rick) had given away the ending to the film (A Little Romance) to him (Rebault), but upon investigation that film (A Little Romance) was not released in Africa until 1979.

Therefore we can assume that Renault was talking about his unrequited feelings toward the young bride. You can see the wistful look in his eyes when she and her husband meet him and she calls him by the honorific "Captain Renault" instead of Louie as he would have preferred.

We can only hope that he overcomes his crippling shyness in the free French garrison!

"Professor Marvel never guesses - he knows!"

[–] Doghouse-6 10 years ago

Perhaps your comment was meant sarcastically, or perhaps you didn't care for the replies when you posed the same question on the Classic Film board recently. They nevertheless explained it pretty well.

The broad strokes are these: Renault trades exit visas and other official services in exchange for sexual favors from beautiful young women, as is alluded to in dialogue at several points during the film.

He's no more "smitten" with Annina Brandel (the "young bride") than he is with any number of other such young women, and when he chides Rick for interfering "with my little romances" (by seeing to it her husband wins at roulette so he can pay for their visas), it's mild disappointment - tempered with grudging admiration for Rick - rather than jealousy he's expressing, along with a good-natured warning: "But I'll be in tomorrow night with a breathtaking blonde, and it will make me very happy if she loses."

If he's "wistful" when the Brandels approach him, it's only over the missed opportunity for the evening, which will be completely forgotten by the next one with the help of the "breathtaking blonde" (providing Rick doesn't keep cramping his style out of sympathy).

As for any shyness, crippling or otherwise, it doesn't really seem in evidence when Renault so blatantly lures women into prostituting themselves, or when he suggests he may move in on Yvonne after Rick has rejected her: "You know, I think now I shall pay a call on Yvonne, maybe get her on the rebound, eh?" As Rick says, when it comes to women, Louie's a true democrat.

It should go without saying that the title of another film made 37 years later has no bearing on dialogue written in 1942 (but perhaps that reference was sarcastic as well).

Poe! You are...avenged!

[–] ck1-5 9 years ago

...and, for the record, Captain Renault seems to be "smitten" by anything that pees sitting down.

[–] TaRaNRoD (1579) 7 years ago

"anything that pees sitting down."

This is an original way to say "woman". X)

[–] mikekrit62 9 years ago

Ummm...what?

[–] doug65oh 9 years ago

Lesson 1: When it comes to Louis Renault, assume almost nothing. Do so and in the end you'll be the one hung out to dry looking like an ass.

[–] GiaJake 9 years ago

No, just a horn toad.

[–] hachmom-1 8 years ago

Louis was smitten by anything in a skirt.

It is not our abilities that show who we truly are...it is our choices

[–] bobbydallas (8681) 7 years ago

He was gonna bone that broad. that's about it