A witty poetic satire! I've had a soft spot for this film since studying it on my French course at uni (a group of us were lucky to be able to have French cinema in the 30's as a specialist subject), years ago. I'm sure seeing the film again the day before the exam, rather than spending time checking out critics in the library, helped improve my grade. It certainly sends up Bourgeois morals and hang-ups (imagine spitting in Balzac!), though Boudu's anarchic behaviour and sexual carryings-on may be either irritating or- his erotic appeal i'm thinking of here- not very credible to many viewers. Yeah, the river scenes, as in Partie de Campagne, are not only among his most lyrical, but as you say, reminiscent of his dad.

I hated the Hollywood remake Down and Out in Beverly Hills and have no interest in seeing the apparently dire moderrn French remake.