Renoir, Father and Son - The New Yorker Renoir, Father and Son February 20, 2012 The best movie in New York is playing at the Frick Museum, and it’s by Renoir—not the film director Jean Renoir but his father, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, the artist (or, as he preferred to call himself, the “workman of painting”). It will be playing there through May 13th, and you could say it’s an assemblage of footage—I mean, canvases—by the editor—um, curator—Colin B. Bailey, under the title “ Renoir, Impressionism, and Full-Length Painting .” Of course, it would be quite enough to say that the small but powerful exhibit features nine glorious paintings , but these works are in fact motion pictures: each of them catches life in dynamic instability. Whether the whirl of a dance, the ingratiating bow of a Sunday seducer, or shimmers on an actress’s resplendent dress, each painting preserves not a frozen moment but a movement in an arc of time.

Catch the details—such as the gap in the vent of a man’s jacket as he whirls; it’s the sort of thing that only a photograph records but a painter remembers. But praising the artist’s technique is too little in the face of the thrillingly sensuous mysteries that Renoir preserves. His technique is, of course, astonishing (no one else, other than Titian, painted such warm, touchable, translucent skin, and, in some of these paintings, his way with the exquisite folds of fabric are reminiscent of Fragonard) but what distinguishes Renoir’s art is the sense of life, the philosophical wisdom they convey. For any who doubt that this true “peasant of Paris” (to borrow a title from Aragon) brings the power of a coherent worldview, an inner vision of life, to his exquisite paintings, the best source for, so to speak, a soundtrack to his images is the book by his son, Jean, the filmmaker, whose memoir “Renoir, My Father” is both one of the great literary portraits of an artist and a passionate resuscitation of a lost world.

Looking at the first painting in the group—aptly, “La Parisienne,” from 1874—I thought about all the subjects that this portrait of a woman of frank mystery in her billowing finery wasn’t, such as the recent Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune. Though the delicate beauty, fragile humanity, and fleeting comfort of a mere person can be blown away in seconds by war, a general or head of state can lose or abandon his or her considered plans just as surely for the love of such a person—and a glance into Jean Renoir’s book yields his father’s remark that “becoming aware of Cleopatra’s firm breasts can turn everything upside down just as surely as the knowledge that the earth is round.” Renoir’s art isn’t a refusal of history but an assertion that history lives in the smallest detail, that changes of fashion are changes of mores, that passion and desire rule the world, and that changes in ideas are less important than the subtly shifting textures of daily life.

Renoir the painter was a passionate anti-modernist who saw clashes between man and his creations as inevitable, and who claimed that the bewildering increase in the speed of progress during our lifetime had begun with the invention of the tube…. Before the arrival of the tube, we would get drunk only on naturally fermented wine. Piping has brought us the locomotive and the bathroom. It has contributed to the building of Montmartre. When Renoir was a young man, the pipe was just beginning its conquest of the world. Industry was not yet turning out tubing by the yard, like macaroni. The passage prefigures the macaronic vision of plastic tubing from the industrial ironist Jacques Tati’s 1958 satire, “ Mon Oncle .” And there’s one painting in the Frick nine that suggests both the vertiginous bewilderments of technology and its impact on art itself: “The Umbrellas.” From the uniformity and standardization of the dully practical object, Renoir extracts a sort of quasi-Cubist riot of slashing arcs. It’s as if the social rituals themselves were subordinated to and transformed by the abstract forms of the peculiar merchandise.

And a pair of details, invisible on the small reproduction but transfixing in person, suggest the psychological peculiarity of this new world: a dark shadow and a strange white space, both near in the center of the canvas, which simultaneously repel the eye and draw it into a distant dream-space waiting to be filled. It’s as if Renoir knew that, for the new world, some new mode of speculative imagination were required. And it would be the cinema. P.S. The film by Jean Renoir that captures these disjunctions with ribald Olympian humor is “Picnic in the Grass” (“Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe”), from 1959 (as here , and here ); no surprise that the title is of Impressionist inspiration. More: Renoir: Film Review | Hollywood Reporter Renoir: Film Review COMMENTS Appreciative but undramatic look at the young woman who was vital to the Renoirs, father-painter Pierre-Auguste and son-filmmaker-to-be Jean. TWITTER Director Gilles Bourdos takes an appreciative look at Andree Heuschling's impact on the lives of painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and his son Jean.

The story of the young woman who was the final muse to painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and the first one to filmmaker Jean Renoir is artistically pivotal and possessing of a lovely symmetry, but it's only mildly dramatic as rendered in the gently observant Renoir. Gilles Bourdos' sun-soaked look at the flame-haired teenager who showed up one day in Cagnes-sur-Mer in 1915 and became the subject of the aged sensualist's ripe final works plausibly brings its subjects alive while displaying an intelligent appreciation for their individual needs at the time. But while the creative careers of the father and son were staggering, not all that much seems at stake in this film, which comes off as a pleasant but mild thing. Goldwyn Films acquired U.S. rights in Cannes and could enjoy a measure of theatrical success by targeting artistically inclined older audiences for whom the Renoir name remains hallowed. Andree Heuschling was only 15 when, at the suggestion of Henri Matisse, she entered the Renoir household in the south of France and gave a fresh jolt of vibrant life to the painter's late work.

Then 74, the wizened old man had just been widowed, and the film vividly depicts how Pierre-Auguste, confined to a wheelchair, needed to have his arthritic hands taped to be able to hold a brush. PHOTOS: 2012 Cannes Awards Winners For her part, Andree's hair and complexion already possessed the sort of rosy flush of sun-kissed youthfulness with which the painter endowed his subjects whether they had it or not; similarly, her body's voluptuous fleshiness required no embellishment on his part. In short, she was the ideal model for his late-period nudes. As the artist (Michel Bouquet) enthuses here, “Her skin soaks up light.” As depicted in the film, Andree (Christa Theret) is a blithe young thing, very much in the French mold, who at least pretends she would just as soon take a job as a bar girl if it paid better than what one of the most famous artists in the country can offer her.

Rude to and resented by the many female workers at the house, many of whom have posed for old master themselves, she has a somewhat raspy voice and does nothing to ingratiate herself. But it doesn't matter, as the boss is happy, spending his days in the verdant environs of the house or down by the river creating idealized portraits of florescent youth painted by a man whose blood clearly still runs hot, even in his crippled state. Also hobbled, by a serious World War I battlefield injury that nearly cost him his left leg, is the artist's 21-year-old son Jean (Vincent Rottiers), who arrives home on crutches to convalesce at the film's half-hour point. Much adored by his father, unlike his disaffected teenage son Claude, the young officer remains at this stage an unformed fellow; proper, socially somewhat maladroit and not entirely confident with women. Jean “dabbles,” according to his papa, not yet sure of his path in life and at the moment only anxious to recover and return his much-beloved comrades-in-arms in the Alpine Hunters 6th Battalion, who have sacrificed so much already.

Although there is incident in the film's second half — Jean and Andree soon pair up, Pierre-Auguste paints more masterpieces, Jean discovers the movies, Andree has additional flare-ups — it doesn't build to the level of compelling drama, leaving the film in a quiet, temperate realm that scarcely makes the pulse race, the bodacious Theret's frequent nudity notwithstanding. In fact, Andree ultimately becomes a rather unappealing character, emerging from behind her surface allure as rather coarse and calculating. Intentionally or not, this prefigures the largely off-putting screen persona she eventually exhibited under the adopted name Catherine Hessling as the leading lady of a half-dozen silent Jean Renoir films. The estimable veteran Bouquet is entirely credible as the old Renoir, who at one point is challenged to stand on his feet by his doctor and, to his great surprise, is able to do so. Rottiers possesses much sharper features than Jean Renoir ever had even in his pre-portly days but reasonably captures the young man's personal and professional uncertainty.

Visually, the film is lovely, if unostentatious, with Taiwanese cinematographer Mark Ping Bing Lee (Flowers of Shanghai and several others for Hou Hsiao-hsien, In the Mood for Love for Wong Kar-wai) sensitively capturing the Mediterranean light and landscapes.

Venue: Cannes Film Festival, Un Certain Regard (Goldwyn Films, U.S.) Production: Wild Bunch, Mars Films, France 2 Cinema Cast: Michel Bouquet, Christa Theret, Vincent Rottiers, Thomas Doret, Romane Bohringer Director: Gilles Bourdos Screenwriters: Jerome Tonnerre, Gilles Bourdos, with the collaboration of Michel Spinosa, from the work “Le Tableau Amoureux” by Jacques Renoir Producers: Olivier Delbosc, Marc Missonnier Executive producer: Christine De Jekel Director of photography: Mark Ping Bing Lee Production designer: Benoit Barouh Jean Renoir - Biography - IMDb Jean Renoir Jump to: Overview (4) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (2) | Trivia (20) | Personal Quotes (7) Overview (4) 5' 11" (1.8 m) Mini Bio (1) Son of the famous Impressionist painter Pierre Auguste, he had a happy childhood. Pierre Renoir was his brother, and Claude Renoir was his nephew.

After the end of World War I, where he won the Croix de Guerre, he moved from scriptwriting to filmmaking. He married Catherine Hessling , for whom he began to make movies; he wanted to make a star of her. They separated in 1930, although he remained married to her until 1943. His next partner was Marguerite Renoir , whom he never married, although she took his name. He left France in 1941 during the German invasion of France during World War II and became a naturalized US citizen. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Yepok Spouse (2) Uncle of Claude Renoir Although he became an American citizen, he was buried in France following a state funeral. Was voted the 12th-greatest director of all time by Entertainment Weekly magazine, making him the highest-rated French filmmaker on the list. He frequently acted in his own movies, earning praise for his performances as lovable bear-like lugs (he even dressed up like a bear in The Rules of the Game (1939)). Biography in John Wakeman, editor, "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945," pp.

923-947. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987. He once said that no other Hollywood director understood people better than Leo McCarey . Called "the boss" by director Jacques Rivette . Grand-uncle of actress Sophie Renoir . Orson Welles frequently cited him as the greatest film director of all time. He fought in the French army during World War I and was wounded in battle. His wounds never healed properly and he suffered from it for the rest of his life. Profiled in "Encyclopedia of French Film Directors" by Philippe Rege (Scarecrow Press). Grand-uncle of artist Alexandre Renoir . Darryl F. Zanuck , Renoir's sometimes producer during Renoir's mixed period making films in Hollywood said "Renoir has plenty of talent, but he's not one of us.". He had extremely long hair as a small child which was not cut at the insistence of his father, Auguste Renoir . His hair made him look like a little girl and caused him to be teased mercilessly. Little Jean with his long hair was depicted famously in one of his father's paintings.

Jean was greatly relieved to go away for school because he knew they required boys to have short hair and they would cut his. Renoir Reviews & Ratings - IMDb IMDb 33 out of 43 people found the following review useful: sumptuous story of painter and filmmaker son 23 January 2013 +Renoir (France, 2012, 112 min) Gille +Bourdos uses the well-known stories of the painter father Pierre-Auguste and the filmmaker son Jean Renoir for a film that is at once breathtaking spectacle and a profound anatomy of the impulses and values of art. The film was one of my highlights at this year's +Palm Springs International Film Festival. The plot presents the 74-year-old veteran painter (Michel Bouquet) and his ravishing new 15-year-old model, Andree Heuschling (Christa Theret) enjoying their opulent country estate while WW I pounds the humanity outside. Mark Lee Ping-Bin shoots the interiors with classic Dutch light and shadow but the exteriors in the unbridled luminosity of Impressionism. Here Renoir explains that structure comes from colour, not form, and he refuses to use black.

That summarizes the painter's Impressionism: it finds reality in what he makes of the outside world, not what it firmly may be. His swirls of rosy chub continues his celebration of the young "velvet" flesh, despite the war's flensing and destruction of the flesh beyond the estate and his age's grotesque gnarl and ruin of his bones. His painting days, like his valiant denial of death, are limited. Son Jean (Vincent Rottiers) returns from the front with a symbol of the reality his father rejects: an open wound. The family has a variety of open wounds, from the loss of the boys' mother and the favoured model/nanny Gabrielle to the sons' resentment of their father's aloofness. The cut to the bone represents the reality Renoir's fleshy ladies and painted pommes reject. Vincent's convalescence goes beyond the flesh gap to include winning Andree, who -- a closing title tells us -- married him, starred in many films (as Catherine Hessling), and after their split died alone in poverty. The sins of the father don't just visit the son but move in with him.

The tension between the painter's idealized flesh and the its horrific reality are frequently imaged, especially in the eating scenes and in the kitchen where a maid delicately peels a tomato, removing a hide to expose a succulent flesh. The hanging carrion are an implicit reminder of the hunting and killing of the human prey outside. Renoir pere screams from the nightmares he doesn't have his sunshine, models and pink paints to ward off. Around the story of Renoir pere beats a more subtle story of Renoir fils. Like Andree, the film serves both father and son. Unobtrusively Bourdos weaves in the specific sources of Renoir's cinema. These include his sense that wars shatter natural cross-border fraternities, the harshness of the class prejudices, the increasing disrespect for culture, the necessity for art. Even the quintessential understanding which will become "The terrible thing is, everyone has his reasons." For more see Was the above review useful to you?

29 out of 37 people found the following review useful: An excellent film that carries a misleading rating from Upstate New York 19 May 2013 Renoir (2012) written and directed by Gilles Bourdos, tells the story of the aging painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Michel Bouquet), his young model Andrée (Christa Theret), and his son Jean (Vincent Rottiers). Andrée is a free spirit. She has no problem posing in the nude, but she makes it clear to everyone that she is a paid model. She has no intention of posing for the honor of it, nor is she ready to become a cook or a maid, as have other models before her. Naturally, Jean is drawn to the beautiful young woman, and the plot revolves around the relationships among and between the three main characters. This is an extraordinarily beautiful movie, filmed on the scenic Côte d'Azur. War is raging elsewhere in France, but life is peaceful in this region. The pace of the film reflects the pace of life at the time--quiet and slow.

This is a film worth seeing, based on historical fact, and suggesting what motivated the younger Renoir to become the extraordinary film director that he was. For some reason, the IMDb weighted average of this film is a dismal 6.6. (The ratings themselves are much higher, but the weighting system brings the number down.) Don't be discouraged by the low rating. This is a movie worth seeking out and seeing. It will work better in a theater, but, if necessary, see it on DVD. It will repay your viewing. Was the above review useful to you? 17 out of 20 people found the following review useful: A gorgeous movie! from United States 7 June 2013 This is without question one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen. The photography, especially the scenes outdoors, looks like one early Renoir painting after the next. The colors are vivid and lush, and the greens are varied to the nth degree. You could watch this movie with the sound turned off and still have a great time. Which is not to say that the script and acting are not worth paying attention to.

The story is nothing special: During the last years of his life, during World War I, Renoir lived in the South of France, to avoid the German invaders. There he paints a beautiful young woman, whom we get to see in the altogether rather often, to pleasing effect. (The movie never explores the extent to which this has an erotic aspect for Renoir, but since it is made clear that he ended up sleeping with his previous models, we can assume that. He is not just painting rose and pink. He keeps emphasizing that he is painting flesh.) His middle son, Jean (who will be the famous French film director down the road), comes home from the war on sick leave and eventually falls in love with the new model. That doesn't go particularly well, as she doesn't seem very committed to monogamy with him. The youngest son, Claude (named after Monet), doesn't deal well with his Mother's recent death, or his distant relationship with Renoir. That doesn't get explored very deeply either. So, in effect, the story threads are handled very Impressionistically as well: little touches of them here and there, but no detailed analysis. The music is often very beautiful, so don't turn off the sound.

Don't expect great drama here. The acting is all fine, but there are no in-depth character portraits here - as there are not in Renoir's paintings - and no real drama. It is all very impressionistic, and often in a very beautiful way. See this in a theater if you can. I suspect it will lose a lot reduced to even a 64" TV screen. ------------------------------ I just saw it for a second time, this time on my 46" TV screen. Yes, it does lose a lot, but the color and light are still beautiful. It's a must see movie, but as I wrote before, don't expect much in the way of drama. Was the above review useful to you? 17 out of 21 people found the following review useful: Velvet Flesh from Dallas, Texas 10 May 2013 Greetings again from the darkness. Admittedly, I expect more from independent films since there is usually no committee of producers sucking the life out of the filmmaker's vision. While writer/director Gilles Bourdos teams with Cinematographer Ping Bin Lee to deliver a film that carries the visual beauty of its subject's paintings, it somehow offers little else.

Veteran French actor Michel Bouquet captures the essence of a 74 year old Pierre-Auguste Renoir, a master Impressionistic artist. By this time (1915), Renoir is in constant pain and continues painting despite his gnarled hands courtesy of severe arthritis. He has relocated to Cote D'Azur (the French Riviera) to leave in peace with nature and the warmer weather. His estate is gorgeous and provides the backdrops for many paintings. We meet his newest model, 15 year old Andree Heuschling (Christa Theret). Her spirit inspires not just Renoir the artist, but also his son Jean (Vincent Ruttiers), sent home to recover from his WWI injuries. Both father and son seem to objectify the beautiful and spirited Andree, neither being capable of an adult and equal personal relationship. The frustration with this movie stems from its unwillingness to offer anything other than observations of its characters. It meanders through days with no real purpose or insight. This despite having subjects that include one of the greatest artists of all-time and his son, who went on to become a world famous movie director.

The story, if there is one, just kind of lays there flat, surrounded by beautiful colors and textures. Auguste Renoir died in 1919, but earlier that year managed to visit the Louvre and view his own paintings hanging in the majestic halls. Jean Renoir married Andree and cast her in his first silent films (as Catherine Hessling). When the films flopped, they divorced. She went on to a life of obscure poverty, and he directed two of the greatest films in history: Grand Illusion and The Rules of the Game. Alexandre Desplat provides another fine score, leaving us lacking only a story or point to the film. To learn much about Pierre-Auguste Renoir, it is recommended to read the biography his son Jean wrote. Was the above review useful to you? 15 out of 18 people found the following review useful: Visually impressive biopic of last days of great French painter, falls down in the drama department 13 May 2013 *** This review may contain spoilers *** 'Renoir' is the new French biopic about the last years of the great painter, Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

If you think about it, creating a film biography of any painter is difficult because the act of creating a painting, does not lend itself to great drama. The painter's life has to be dramatic. What makes 'Renoir' doubly difficult is that director Gilles Bourdos has chosen to view Renoir at the point in his declining days. 'Renoir' is sort of like an extremely impressive family video postcard. This is what it has going for it: Fantastic visuals (Bourdos employed the infamous art forger, Guy Ribes, to reproduce the Renoir paintings throughout the film), a haunting musical score and the marvelous Michel Bouquet, in a compelling character study of the brilliant but often petulant artistic genius, Renoir. My favorite line of Renoir's is when he speaks of the flesh as "everything". Despite suffering from crippling rheumatoid arthritis, Renoir managed to keep producing great paintings, up until the end. What 'Renoir' unfortunately does not have much of, is drama. The story focuses on the appearance of Andree Hesuchling, an aspiring actress who ends up as Renoir's last model for his masterpieces.

After Jean Renoir returns from World War I, convalescing from a leg wound, there is some tension between father and son, after Jean takes an interest in Andree (it was Renior himself who had the reputation of bedding his models while he was married and before his illness made him dependent on others). There is also a focus on Jean's internal arc, as he struggles to find his own inner voice. We become privy to Jean's future greatness, when he shows a short silent film, to his admiring family (including his father). The second act crisis fails to excite, when Andree suddenly disappears from the household, causing Renoir to become quite upset. Jean finds her at a bordello of sorts but convinces her to return to the Renoir estate. We later learn in the credits that she starred in Jean's early films, up until 1931, when they separated. Tragically, Andree fell into poverty and obscurity. Jean, on the other hand, remains a legend in cinematic history. 'Renoir' has excellent performances from all the supporting players including Thomas Doret as Coco, Renoir's youngest son, who aches to fly free from teenage bondage.

I couldn't get very excited about 'Renoir' despite the fact that visually it certainly is a beautiful film. Would I advise you to go and see it? Yes. But don't expect any great revelations. You can usually learn quite a bit from wise old men as they talk about the pastbut an examination of their present circumstances, doesn't always lead to compelling narrative. Was the above review useful to you? 14 out of 17 people found the following review useful: excellent drama, may be too slow for some 9 April 2013 *** This review may contain spoilers *** Renoir is a film about a person (the artist Renoir), his family, and his later life. Sorry, but there are no explosions, gun battles, or even a fist fight. The emphasis is on character and atmosphere. Thus there are scenes that seem to go nowhere, and conversations that don't seem to have significance. They are here, like the impressionist painter tries to convey a feeling. To this end, the film does very well. The viewer gets into the minds and hearts of the artist, his sons, and his model. Based mostly on fact, there of course may be some inaccuracies that may be discovered.

but like an impressionistic painting, the mood is set, and the imagination does the rest. Was the above review useful to you? 14 out of 22 people found the following review useful: Beautiful but Boring 22 April 2013 *** This review may contain spoilers *** I enjoyed the experience of watching the film. The contrast of the beauty of the model and the natural landscape of South France against the ugliness of the war and Renoir's disease was...beautiful. The movie was intentionally a lot like a painting. Also like a painting, the creator of the movie leaves a lot of the story to the viewer's imagination. Neat. Very artistic. I think I get it, but I still expect more of a story and character development from a movie. Other than Renoir, who were these people? What, if anything, motivated their interest in each other? If there is no story there, can you tell us something about Renoir's earlier years? Something? Anything? Was the above review useful to you? 7 out of 9 people found the following review useful: Beautifully Impressionistic Film 10 June 2013 Appropriately enough, about the world's most famous Impressionist painter.

While it's definitely not for those who strongly favor conventionally plotted drama or fast action, RENOIR consists of immediate realism and puts you right with the Renoir clan on the French Riviera. It's the sort of film that could easily have been made overly artsy and dull, but it's neither. The entire story takes place in 1915, toward the end of Renoir's life. The relationship between model Andrée Heuschling and son Jean Renoir is, in many ways, more the subject of the story than the painter himself, yet Renoir himself is indispensable as "the boss," a sort of god-like backdrop to the entire cast and story. Having said that, I must add that there is a fair amount on Renoir's artistic processes, and his philosophizing can be applied to all sorts of art-forms as well as painting. One of RENOIR's strongest aspects is its portrayal of a man who is obsessed with his work and has one thing which utterly engulfs and consumes him. Like many French films, RENOIR succeeds in breaking all sorts of rules.

Among them: --The plot is meandering and somewhat slice-of-life but still gripping; --Andrée, the "girl from nowhere," and free but neglected youngest son Coco are characters that beg to be developed further, but at the same time, perhaps it's better that they remain mysterious; --Lots of female nudity without it seeming the least bit gratuitous: After all, the subject is an artist who often painted naked girls; --The mood is a successful mesh of somberness, poignancy, and (often laugh-out-loud) humor. Just about every artsy cliché could be applied to this film, but suffice it to say that it is a beautiful experience. Even simple colors come alive here for the audience as they did for Renoir himself. I'm a word person who's never been a big painting aficionado, but this film made me see the visual arts in a whole new light and may even have converted me to some extent. The soundtrack--quiet, unobtrusive piano scores in the background--also does a great deal to carry this film. Was the above review useful to you?

3 out of 3 people found the following review useful: Renoir: cinema as an impressionist art form from Canada 25 December 2013 This film is deliberately full of short scenes without apparent rational purposes. If there was one or maybe two such scenes, one might see those as plot holes or dead ends, i.e. as flaws. Personally, I see this film as an impressionistic film about a famous impressionist painter. The very thin storyline along with the numerous vignettes of the daily life of a painter, his model, his sons and his family/maids (eating, painting, cooking, talking about this and that, sleeping alone or together, bathing, or simply being idle), all filmed with the extraordinary beauty of the Côte d'Azur and its unique light which drew so many painters to the region: everything concurs to making of this film a painting on film. A painting that uses the impressionist technique: myriads of small brush strokes of colours which seem out of place, unexpected or even plain wrong, whose purpose we understand only when we look at the overall canvas once finished. Renoir is such a painting. This is a masterpiece.

I found it as mesmerizing as the most beautiful impressionist paintings, whether they are by Renoir or Monet, Degas or Cézanne. I was literally transfigured by the sheer beauty of the images, and could not care less for the meaning of every little strokes of this large fresco of the beauty of nature in that region blessed by a magic sunlight... There is no pace when contemplating a painting. Everything else stops while one immerses oneself into it. And if there is one overall purpose for this movie, it is contained in the short epilogue shown at the end of the film. Jean Renoir became the famous film director of international renown, and this movie conveys the circumstances -mostly his relationship with Andrée - that led him to take this career at a time when he saw himself as mere canon fodder with nothing else after the war had ended. There are several ways to tell a story, and this is a new one. The originality of Renoir (2012), what makes this movie so unique is that it transposes a painting technique to cinema. Do not expect much action.

As Pierre-Auguste Renoir says in the movie (paraphrasing) as an almost zen principle: "Do not interfere with the course of nature: picture yourself as a cork carried over by a stream, and let yourself slip away slowly as time flows by...". This is exactly how one should watch that extraordinary movie. A healthy film for the soul. Was the above review useful to you? 5 out of 7 people found the following review useful: Very good from Saint Paul, MN 17 December 2013 Painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Michel Bouquet) is an ancient man by 1915. It is WWI, and his two eldest sons, Pierre and Jean (Vincent Rottiers), are at war, while his youngest, Claude (Kid with a Bike star Thomas Doret), just a boy, plays around the estate, claiming to be an orphan (his mother dead and his father an old man). Along comes a beautiful young woman (Christa Theret) who wishes to model for Renoir. Her beauty inspires the old man.

Soon, Jean arrives home and begins an affair with the model (whose name is Andrée Heuschling, but who would later change her name to Catherine Hessling and star in many of Renoir's early films). This is, above all, just a very pretty movie. Very fitting, given its subject. Alexandre Desplat also provides a very gorgeous score. The story isn't hefty, but it's good. The acting is good throughout. France submitted this for the Academy Awards this year, bypassing the much more popular (and frankly better) Blue Is the Warmest Color, but Renoir is a worthy film, as well. Was the above review useful to you? Page 1 of 3: Jean Renoir | French director | Britannica.com French director Clint Eastwood Jean Renoir, (born Sept. 15, 1894, Paris , France —died Feb. 12, 1979, Los Angeles , Calif., U.S.), French film director, son of the Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir .

His films, in both silent and later eras, were noted for their realism and strong narrative and include such classics as Grand Illusion (1937), The Rules of the Game (1939), and The River (1951). Jean Renoir Globe Photos Early years Renoir was born in the Montmartre section of Paris; in an environment in which art predominated, among painters and their models, he spent a happy childhood, which was richer in the carefree appreciation of beauty than in formal studies. Nevertheless, he received a degree in 1913 from the University of Aix-en-Provence, where he wrote poetry, and joined the cavalry to begin a military career. World War I broke out in 1914, and Renoir was wounded in the leg. During his convalescence, he spent his time in Paris movie houses, where he discovered the serials and Charlie Chaplin . After he recovered he rejoined the service in the air force and finished the war with the rank of lieutenant. Undecided on a career, he studied ceramics with his brother at Cagnes-sur-mer, near Nice, where his family had settled.

Early in 1920 he married one of his father’s models, Andrée Heurschling, a few months after the painter’s death, and went with her to live in Marlotte, a village near Paris in which his father had once painted. Intending to set up a ceramics factory, Jean Renoir was joined by his friend Paul Cézanne , the son of the painter. Having come into contact with theatrical circles through his sister-in-law, the actress Vera Sergine, Renoir was attracted by the evolving art of the film and decided to write a screenplay. It was made into the film Catherine, or Une Vie sans joie (“A Life Without Joy”), in 1923, with his wife appearing under the name of Catherine Hessling. The first film Renoir directed was La Fille de l’eau (released 1924; “The Girl of the Water”), which again starred his wife. All of his early films were produced in a makeshift way, with technical clumsiness, a lack of means, and a certain amateurishness. Nevertheless, the instinctive genius of the filmmaker found expression in them.

These early films, which reveal a strong pictorial influence, have taken on with time a particular charm. In the late 1920s he found his inspiration in the writings of Émile Zola , Hans Christian Andersen , and others but made of them personal films in the style of the French avant-garde of the period. Britannica Stories AI Defeats All Humans at Go These films had no commercial success, and Renoir and his backers were almost ruined. The advent of sound in motion pictures brought new difficulties, but Renoir passed the test with On purge bébé (1931; “Going to Pot”) and proved himself with La Chienne (1931; “The Bitch”), a fierce and bitter film adapted from a comic novel by Georges de la Fouchardière. During the 1930s Jean Renoir produced many of his most notable works, but their freedom of composition was confusing to critics of the period, and the films achieved only middling success.

These films include La Nuit du carrefour (1932; Night at the Crossroads), based on a novel by Georges Simenon; Boudu sauvé des eaux (1932; Boudu Saved from Drowning), an anarchistic and unconstrained comedy; Madame Bovary (1934), based on Gustave Flaubert’s classic novel; and Le Crime de M. Lange (1936; The Crime of Monsieur Lange ), which, in contrast to the rather stilted manner of the first years of sound films, foretells a reconquest of the true moving-picture style, especially in use of improvisation and of montage —the art of editing, or cutting, to achieve certain associations of ideas. You Can’t Handle the Truth: Famous Movie Quotes In 1936, in sympathy with the social movements of the French Popular Front, Renoir directed the communist propaganda film La Vie est à nous (The People of France). The same year, he recaptured the flavour of his early works with a short film, Une Partie de campagne (released 1946; A Day in the Country), which he finished with great difficulty.

A masterpiece of impressionist cinema, this film presents all the poetry and all the charm of the pictorial sense that is, far more than his technique, the basis of his art as a filmmaker. The late 1930s saw such major works as La Grande Illusion (1937; Grand Illusion ), a moving story of World War I prisoners of war; La Bête humaine (1938; The Human Beast, or Judas Was a Woman), an admirable free interpretation of Zola; and especially La Règle du jeu (1939; The Rules of the Game ), his masterpiece. Cut and fragmented by the distributors, this classic film was also regarded as a failure until it was shown in 1965 in its original form, which revealed its astonishing beauty.

Erich von Stroheim (left) and Pierre Fresnay in La Grande Illusion (1937), … © Réalisation d’art cinématographique; photograph from a private collection Later years Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies During World War II , when the Nazis invaded France in 1940, Renoir, like many of his friends, went to Hollywood and continued his career there. His American period includes films of varying merit, which mark a departure from his previous style: Swamp Water (1941), The Southerner (1945), Diary of a Chambermaid (1946), and The Woman on the Beach (1947). In 1944, after being divorced from Catherine Hessling, he married Dido Freire, daughter of Brazilian filmmaker Alberto Cavalcanti . He made The River (1951), his first colour film, in India. Now in full command of a mature style that reflected the qualities of the man himself—sensitivity, fervour, and humanity—he returned to Europe by way of Italy, where he made Le Carrosse d’or (released 1952; The Golden Coach ).

A sumptuous work, combining the talents of both a painter and a dramatist, this film shows Renoir’s love of actors and their profession. He occasionally played roles in his own or other directors’ films, and he allowed his actors a great deal of initiative . Subsequently, he made French Cancan (1955), a fabulous evocation of the Montmartre of the 19th century, and Eléna et les hommes (1956; Paris Does Strange Things), a period fantasy swept along in a prodigious movement. His last works, from the 1960s, do not achieve the same beauty, nor does the work he produced for television. A powerful personality, having been deeply impressed by the artistic environment of his youth, Renoir was also extremely open to later influences both in his art and in his ideas. A naturalized American citizen and settled in Los Angeles, he nevertheless kept his French nationality and maintained connections in Paris.

In addition to his films, Renoir also wrote a play, Orvet (first performed 1955), which was presented in Paris; a novel, Les cahiers du capitaine Georges (1966; The Notebooks of Captain George); an invaluable book of memories about his father, Renoir (1962); and a memoir of his own life, My Life and My Films (1974). Renoir, Jean | Article about Renoir, Jean by The Free Dictionary Renoir, Jean | Article about Renoir, Jean by The Free Dictionary Related to Renoir, Jean: Jean Cocteau , Jean Gabin Jean Renoir Actor, director, screenwriter, producer, author Renoir, Jean (zhäN rənwär`), 1894–1979, French film director and writer, b. Paris; son of Pierre Auguste Renoir. He made his first film in 1926. Gathering around him a devoted coterie of actors and technicians, Renoir developed a collective approach to filmmaking, favoring improvisational acting, open-air shooting, and stories stressing the changeable nature of morality.

Renoir's Grand Illusion (1937), a balanced, compassionate study of people in time of war, is considered one of the greatest motion pictures ever made. Renoir worked in Hollywood during World War II, but never fully adapted to studio filmmaking. His postwar French films play on the slippery relationship between film and theater. His films include The Crime of M. Lange (1935), A Day in the Country (1936), The Human Beast (1938), The Rules of the Game (1939), The Southerner (1944), Diary of a Chambermaid (1945), The River (1951), and Picnic on the Grass (1959). Renoir wrote the biography Renoir, My Father (tr. 1962) and a novel, The Notebooks of Captain Georges (tr. 1966). Bibliography See his autobiography, My Life and My Films (1974, repr. 1991); biographies by C. Bertin (1986) and R. Bergan (1994); study by A.

Bazin (tr. 1973); C. Faulkner, The Social Cinema of Jean Renoir (1986). Renoir, Jean Born Sept. 15, 1894, in Paris; died Feb. 12, 1979, in Los Angeles. French film director. Son of the painter P.-A. Renoir. Renoir worked in the cinema from 1924. His first films were The Daughter of the Water (1924), Nana (1926; adapted from Zola’s novel), and The Little Match Girl (1928; adapted from H. C. Andersen’s story). Renoir’s sound films, including The Bitch (1931), Boudu Saved From Drowning (1932), Toni (1934), and The Crime of M. Lange (1935), reflected the development of solidarity among workers and depicted French society realistically.

Renoir supported the Popular Front movement from 1935 to 1938 and directed the short film Life Belongs to Us (1936), made at the request of the French Communist Party. The ideas of the Popular Front were reflected in Renoir’s best film, Grand Illusion (1937), set during World War I. Renoir also directed The Marseillaise (1938), which depicts an episode in the French Revolution, The Lower Depths (1936; adapted from Gorky’s play), The Human Beast (1938; adapted from Zola’s novel), and the comedy The Rules of the Game (1939), which was banned at the beginning of World War II. After the surrender of France, Renoir lived in the USA, returning home in 1952. His films of the 1950’s, highly theatrical and set in the past, included The Golden Coach (1952; adapted from P.

Mérimée’s play The Coach of the Blessed Sacrament), French Cancan (1956), Picnic on the Grass (1959), and The Testament of Doctor Cordelier (1960). Renoir’s work of the 1930’s influenced Italian neorealism. His brother, Pierre Renoir, an actor, appeared in Renoir’s films, and his nephew, Claude Renoir, a cameraman, collaborated on his films.

WORKS Alain Renoir (1921 - 2008) - Genealogy Alain Renoir Share your family tree and photos with the people you know and love Build your family tree online Share photos and videos Father of <private> Renoir; <private> Renoir and <private> Renoir Managed by: Oct 31 1921 - Cagnes sur mer (06) Death: Dec 12 2008 - Esparto, Yolo, California, USA Parents: Jean Renoir, Andree Renoir (born Heuschling) Partner: Oct 31 1921 - Cagnes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France Death: Dec 12 2008 - Esparto, Yolo, California, USA Parents: Dec 12 2008 - California, United States Parents: Jean Renoir, Andrée Renoir (née Heuschling) Wife: Oct 31 1921 - Cagnes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France Death: Dec 12 2008 - Esparto, Yolo, California, United States

 of America Parents: Jean Renoir, Andrée Madeleine Renoir (born Heuschling) Wife: Oct 31 1921 - Cagnes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France Death: Dec 12 2008 - Esparto, Yolo, California, USA Parents: Jean Renoir, Catherine (Andree) Renoir (born Hessling (Heusling)) Wife: Jean Renoir, Andrée Renoir (née Heuschling) Wife: Jean Renoir, Andrée Renoir (née Heuschling) Wife: stepfather About Alain Renoir English professor Alain Renoir was the son of famed director Jean Renoir and grandson of famed Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

He was a Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. Renoir was cinematographer on his father's classic "The Rules of the Game." He worked as an assistant cameraman on his father's 1938 film "The Human Beast." He appeared in several documentary films about his father's career. He fought in the French Army during WWII and was wounded in battle. After World War II, he started college at the University of Santa Barbara. There he met his future wife, Jane, who was obtaining a degree in nutrition. One of his required classes was nutrition, and he had an assignment to describe a nutritious meal. With Jane's help, he and a friend devised a meal with the least nutrition possible. It drove his professor crazy. Despite not being able to speak English until after he joined the American Army, Renoir was admitted to the Department of English at Harvard University's graduate school. While there, where he obtained a doctorate in Old English Literature under the brilliant (and slightly wacky) Francis P. Magoun, Jr. Upon receiving his Ph.D., Renoir went to the University of California, Berkeley, where he remained a professor of English until his retirement in 1989.

He co-founded the Department of Comparative Literature there, where it still thrives. A number of important scholars of Old English received their doctorates under his guidance. He was a formidable figure in the field of Oral-Formulaic theory, where his experience as a cinematographer helped bring to life the ancient techniques of storytelling of 7th-10th century England. He often spoke with great fondness of his father, Jean Renoir, to his students, but he never permitted anyone to discuss his grandfather. Occasionally he would make reference to Pierre-Auguste Renoir (whom he never met) by saying, "I had a grandfather who painted pictures." Alain Renoir died at his country estate in Northern California on December 12, 2008 in the presence of his late-life companion, Pat Powers. Jean Renoir - Director, Producer - Biography.com Jean Renoir French director Jean Renoir, son of the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, directed C'est la Revolution and wrote a biography of his father in the 1960s.

IN THESE GROUPS » quotes “[Jean Renoir's] work unfolds as if he had devoted his most brilliant moments to fleeing the masterpiece, to escape any notion of the definite and the fixed, so as to create a semi-improvisation, a deliberately 'open' work ...'” “I think [Jean] Renoir is the only filmmaker who’s practically infallible, who has never made a mistake on film. And I think if he never made mistakes, it’s because he always found solutions based on simplicity—human solutions.” Jean Renoir Synopsis Jean Renoir was born on September 15, 1894, in Paris, France. In 1934, he directed his first movie, La Fille de l'eau. He became a United States citizen in 1946. Also in the 1940s, he signed with two major movie studios. In the 1950s he kept active in theater. He wrote a biography of his father in the 1960s and likewise directed C'est la Revolution. He died February 12, 1979, in Beverly Hills, California. Fact Check We strive for accuracy and fairness.

If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us ! Citation Information ‘Renoir,’ Directed by Gilles Bourdos - The New York Times The New York Times Movies |A Muse to the Father, and a Wife to the Son Search A Muse to the Father, and a Wife to the Son ‘Renoir,’ Directed by Gilles Bourdos Renoir The Times critic Stephen Holden reviews "Renoir." By Gabe Johnson on Publish Date March 29, 2013. . Watch in Times Video » embed “I refuse to paint the world black,” declares Pierre-Auguste Renoir (the great French actor Michel Bouquet) in “Renoir,” Gilles Bourdos’s compassionate late-life portrait of this French Impressionist painter, infirm with rheumatoid arthritis. “A painting should be something pleasant and cheerful,” he adds. “There are enough disagreeable things in life. I don’t need to paint more.” It is the summer of 1915 and Renoir , 74, has just lost his beloved wife, Aline. He will die four years later.

The great man, now rich and famous, is slavishly attended by a retinue of female servants, several of whom are former artist’s models, at his farm, Les Collettes , at Cagnes-sur-Mer on the Cote d’Azur. World War I rages to the north. His two older sons, Pierre (Laurent Poitrenaux) and Jean (Vincent Rottiers), have both suffered serious battle injuries. Early in the film Jean returns home on crutches to convalesce from a wound that nearly cost him a leg. A third son, Claude (Thomas Doret), a k a Coco, in his early teens, lives on the property. Despite laboring in excruciating pain, which requires his hand to be tied to his paintbrush, Renoir remains obsessed with the way “the velvety texture of a young girl’s skin” absorbs the light. He experiences a surge of vitality when he meets the 15-year-old Andrée Heuschling (Christa Théret), a k a Dedee, a voluptuous, mouthy, high-strung redhead recommended as a model by Henri Matisse.

“Too early, too late,” Renoir comments wryly, meaning that their age difference prevents them from becoming lovers. For Renoir, Andrée, who has a ravenous appetite for life, is the spirit made flesh, a beauty “Titian would have worshiped,” he announces. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Renoir’s philosophy is distilled in five words: “Flesh! That’s all that matters.” While watching the movie, exquisitely photographed by the Taiwanese cinematographer Mark Ping Bing Lee ( “In the Mood for Love” ), you may surrender to that unabashedly sensual vision, celebrated in every shot of Les Collettes’ gorgeous, seething landscape of windblown trees, grass and streams that reflect what Renoir calls “the fury running through my nerves.” But the movie, like its subject, refuses to stir up unnecessary melodrama. There are many small conflicts and psychological undercurrents, but the closest thing to a narrative theme is the effect Andrée has on the Renoir household. Pierre-Auguste, Jean and Claude all fall under her spell, while Renoir’s caretakers are outraged by her arrogance. In a violent outburst, she smashes several priceless plates.

Photo Michel Bouquet as Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Christa Théret as his model. Credit Samuel Goldwyn Films When Andrée and Jean first meet, and she asks him what he wants to do with his life, he replies glumly that he has “no dreams and ambitions.” She scolds, “Never say that to a woman — she’ll despise you.” They have an affair during which Andrée, who dreams of being a movie star, stokes his interest in filmmaking, and we see his first steps in that direction. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy Just outside the gates of Les Collettes lies the real world in its war-torn shambles, glimpsed in a scene in which the radiant Andrée rides her bicycle past rows of wounded, disfigured soldiers sprawled by the roadside, who eye her with a mixture of hunger and despair. Here is the horror Renoir has shut out of his sight. Mr. Rottiers plays the 20-year-old Jean as a blank lost soul waiting for his future to find him.

When he recovers, he is torn between staying with Andrée and returning to the war to fight beside his comrades. The movie ends as Jean is about to leave Les Collettes. He didn’t die. After returning safely, he and Andrée married, and before they separated in 1931, she made 15 silent films under the name Catherine Hessling . Jean went on to cinematic immortality as the creator of classics like “Grand Illusion” and “The Rules of the Game.” “Renoir” doesn’t strain to create a deeper sense of artistic continuity between father and son beyond suggesting that Pierre-Auguste and Jean shared a vision of life expressed in the father’s advice to “let yourself be carried through life like a cork on water.” That sense of fluidity is embodied in the canvases shown in the film (painted by the famous art forger Guy Ribes ), whose figures dissolve into the landscape and into one another in an ethereal mist. “What must control the structure is not the line,” Renoir declares. “It’s the color.” “Renoir” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) for art-related nudity and brief language.

Renoir Cannes: Samuel Goldwyn Lands Gilles Bourdos' 'Renoir' Cannes: Samuel Goldwyn Lands Gilles Bourdos' 'Renoir' Steve Pond Cannes 2012: Samuel Goldwyn Lands Gilles Bourdos' 'Renoir' More Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired U.S. rights to Gilles Bourdos' "Renoir," a love story about painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, his son, film director Jean Renoir, and the young woman who inspired them both. The film was acquired at Cannes, where it will screen as the closing-night attraction in the Un Certain Regard section. Goldwyn plans a spring 2013 release. “I was captivated by the script from the first page and cannot wait to bring this film to American audiences," said Goldwyn's senior vice president of acquisitions, Peter Goldwyn, in a press release announcing the deal. "Pierre-Auguste Renoir's work speaks for itself – he is one of the most gifted painters the world has ever seen while his son Jean is one of the most important filmmakers of our time.

We feel extremely fortunate to bring such indelible icons to life.” Based on a true story and starring Michel Bouquet, Vincent Rottiers and Christa Theret, "Renoir" is set on the French Riviera in 1915, after Pierre-Auguste Renoir had lost his wife and his son had been wounded in battle in World War I. A young woman named Andrée becomes the painter's last model, and also inspires the recovering Jean Renoir to become a filmmaker. The deal was negotiated by Goldwyn's Ian Puente and Wild Bunch's Carole Baraton and Antoine Zylberberg. Related Articles:

Question: What was the surname of father Pierre Auguste, a painter, and his film director son, Jean?
Answer: Renoir