'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.
'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.