juoliver-70482 To experience this movie at full it is suggested to recall that Auguste Renoir was one of greatest artist ever and one of the creators of the XX century visual perception. Also it will be an advantage to know that his second son, Jean, was one of the greatest filmmakers that ever existed. Renoir is set in a time lag of few months in the wonderful environs of a farmhouse at the French Rivera. This film is the entrapping of this period in this particular place. The farmhouse is owned by Auguste Renoir and it is his place in the world. Life in the house hold is routinely established and predicted. A group of loyal women dedicate to the accommodation, feeding, cleaning, transport and assistance of Auguste who is suffering of an unkind rheumatic arthritis which has him severely handicapped, in spite of his condition he is determined to keep painting incessantly. A young woman, Andree, interrupts this inert equilibrium. She comes as a model for the painter. She is hired and stayed in the ample house but she is not able to accept the routine and way of life of the household, she is an independent soul. Auguste son, Jean, returned from the war as a wounded soldier, he is depleted of dreams or plans for the future. Andree, with her lust for life, becomes significant for both father and son. This is the story background of Renoir but what really tells us the story of the film is the place, the farmhouse in Le Collette. Its different rooms, its kitchen, the surrounding grassy terrain, the trees, the cloth lines, the nearby areas: the sea, the thick forest of high trees, the stream, the waterfall the gate to the property , the road to the gate. A sensitive, inquisitive and intelligent camera has followed and captured the lives of the people populating and interacting with this place, integrating the presence of the wind and the rotations of the light and the umbrellas which the women play with. The images were built with visually intense scenes. Angles, lighting and editing were used in a painterly mode of short brush strokes and with the calibration of short takes where conversations were cut to continue an emotional atmosphere. The apparently isolated and homogeneous landscape of the south of France was pierced with some visuals of angst expressing the terrible war occurring not far from there. Only once the camera left the landscape of Le Collette to follow Andree who was in a Cabaret. This short scene is shot with the same intensity and quality than the rest of the movie but with a certain judgment to the contrasting context. The cinematography and editing were essential and unmatched, the set decoration, production design and costume design transpired truth to the period and the music complemented the beauty of the scenes. The acting was wonderful in what I think was a very strict, disciplinary work because of the historic reality of the characters. Christa Theret as Andree was inspiring and convincing as an independent, feisty, needed to be kept, young woman. The master story teller was the director, Guilles Bourdos; I suppose he had a great determination in shooting this movie in the way it was completed. It is for the most part a visual story and sometimes moviegoers yearn for a more verbally explanatory story. He handled the elements of the film with great ability and talent to favor the audience with a great experience.

tao902 An interesting, complex, revealing story about the relationship between the painter, Renoir, one of his models, Andree, and one of his sons, Jean.Jean Renoir returns to his father's house to recover from a wound obtained during the First World War. The painter's favoured model gradually grows close to Jean, which in turn provides us with an insight into the relationship between father and son as well. We see the beginnings of Jean Renoir's interest in filmmaking.Beautifully filmed. A little aimless at times. Could have had a few more dramatic moments.

gradyharp Writer/director Gilles Bourdos (with assistance from Jacques Renoir, Michel Spinosa, and Jérôme Tonnerre) bring us the incandescent beauty of a transcendent summer in 1915 in the Côte d'Azur when Pierre-Auguste Renoir began the denouement of the Impressionist period of painting. More than a simple story, this film is a recreation of the view of nature and of the human figure as bathed in that special light of the countryside of France. It is as much an artwork as t is a biographical view of one of history's great painters.The Côte d'Azur, 1915. In his twilight years, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Michel Bouquet) is tormented by the loss of his wife, the pains of rheumatoid arthritis severely limiting his movement, wheelchair-bound, and the agony of hearing that his son Jean (Vincent Rottiers) has been wounded in the action of WW I. His household is tended by maids who have been previous models, and his youngest son Coco (Thomas Doret) who suffers from the lack of attention from his still grieving father. But when a young girl miraculously enters his world, the old painter is filled with a new, wholly unexpected energy. Blazing with life, radiantly beautiful, Andrée Heuschling (Christa Theret) will become his last model, who rejuvenates, enchants, and inspires both father and son. Returning to the family home to convalesce, Jean too falls under the spell of the new, redheaded star in the Renoir firmament. In their Mediterranean Eden - and in the face of his father's fierce opposition - he falls in love with this wild, untamable spirit... and as he does so, within weak-willed, battle-shaken Jean, a filmmaker begins to grow.Bathed in the cinematography glow of Ping Bin Lee and the subtle, sensual musical score by Alexandre Desplat and greatly enhanced by a pitch perfect cast, this film is more of a mood piece than a biopic. At film's end we are informed of the lives of the characters; Jean married Andrée and they made very successful films together until their divorce (Jean Renoir become one of the most highly regarded film directors in history, dying in 1979 – the year that the then destitute Andrée died, Coco (Claude) Renoir gained fame as a ceramic artist, and the eldest on Pierre became an actor whose son became the brilliant film maker Claude Renoir). It is an important moment in the history of art and a quietly pensive study of the mind of artists and their models. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, December 13

doug_park2001 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.