Synopsis
In the French Riviera in the summer of 1915, Jean Renoir, son of the Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste, returns home to convalesce after being wounded in World War I. At his side is Andrée, a young woman who rejuvenates, enchants, and inspires both father and son.
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Cast
- Michel BouquetAuguste Renoir
- Christa ThéretAndrée Heuschling
- Vincent RottiersJean Renoir
- Thomas DoretCoco Renoir
- Romane BohringerGabrielle
- Carlo BrandtDr. Prat
- Solène RigotMadeleine
- Anne-Lise HeimburgerLa boulangère
- Hélène BabuOdette
- Stuart SeideDr. Barnes
Recommendations
- 90
The New York Times
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. - 80
Los Angeles Times
Renoir is a lush, involving film. - 70
Village Voice
Wisely, director Gilles Bourdos keeps the pace slow, what with all the tensions beneath the surface: Oedipal conflict, career choices, even class struggle. - 70
Variety
There is no major drama here save the encroaching end of one great artist and the birth of another, but Bourdos and his fellow screenwriters have translated something so monumental into a succession of such small domestic tableaux in which the Renoirs are seen as people first and artists second. - 70
Wall Street Journal
Renoir is so beautiful, and so intelligently conceived, that you keep waiting, in vain, for a bit of fire to break out in the narrative. - 70
NPR
Renoir doesn't present a particularly dynamic tale, and its attempts at stage-like drama — notably the sometimes epigrammatic dialogue — can seem overdone. But the performances are assured, the ambiance impeccable and the themes resonant. - 60
The Hollywood Reporter
Although there is incident in the film's second half...it doesn't build to the level of compelling drama, leaving the film in a quiet, temperate realm that scarcely makes the pulse race. - 60
New York Daily News
Unfortunately, for all the beauty, director Gilles Bourdos goes no further than simply observing surfaces.
