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.

richard-1787 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.

stensson The relation between the painter and his model has seldom been questioned. Not much talk about man power. Quite few smiles about it. If it had been otherwise with female artists painting naked men, we don't know much about. It's not much of that sort in art history.We here meet the aging Renoir and one of his last models, Andrée. It becomes complicated when Renor's son appears. What's strongest? Art or sensual love?It could have been an interesting dilemma, if this had been more of a film and less of just pictures. The story is lost because of that. Neither questions nor answers.

beautox 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.