AllMovie

This Franco-American co-production was simultaneously released in French and English-speaking versions. Pierre Fresnay stars as famed French entomologist Henri Fabre. It is not stretching things to suggest that Fabre lives for his bugs and insects, though the film manages to show that he enjoyed a long and healthy private life as loving husband and father. The central dramatic conflict pits Fabre against those scientific higher-ups who refuse to accept his radical new theories concerning the biological facts of life. Monsieur Fabre is essentially a tour de force for Pierre Fresnay, who ages nearly 60 years in the course of the film. In America, Monsieur Fabre was "hyped" with the gaudy title The Fabulous Monsier Fabre.