Jean Renoir
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Jean Renoir (September 15, 1894 – February 12, 1979), born in the Montmartre district of Paris, France, was a film director, actor and author. He was the second son of Aline Charigot and the French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
In 1939, now able to finance his own films, Renoir made La Règle du Jeu (The Rules of the Game), a satire on contemporary French society with an ensemble cast. Renoir himself played the character Octave, a sort of master of ceremonies in the film. The film was greeted with derision by Parisian audiences upon its premiere and was extensively reedited by Renoir, but without success. It was his greatest commercial failure. The Vichy government later banned the film as demoralizing, and during the war the original negative of the film was lost. It was not until the 1950s that two French film enthusiasts, with Renoir's cooperation, were able to reconstruct a complete print of the film. Today The Rules of the Game appears frequently near the top of critic's polls as one of the best films ever made.
Filmography
- 1924 : Backbiters (Catherine ou Une vie sans Joie, also acted)
- 1925 : La Fille de l'eau
- 1926 : Nana
- 1927 : Charleston Parade (Sur un air de charleston)
- 1927 : Une vie sans joie (second version of Backbiters)
- 1927 : Marquitta
- 1928 : The Sad Sack (Tire-au-flanc)
- 1928 : The Tournament (Le Tournoi dans la cité)
- 1928 : The Little Match Girl (La Petite Marchande d'allumettes)
- 1929 : Le Bled
- 1931 : On purge bébé
- 1931 : Isn't Life a Bitch? (La Chienne)
- 1932 : Night at the Crossroads (La Nuit du carrefour)
- 1932 : Boudu Saved from Drowning (Boudu sauvé des eaux)
- 1932 : Chotard and Company (Chotard et Cie)
- 1933 : Madame Bovary
- 1935 : Toni
- 1936 : A Day in the Country (Une partie de campagne, also acted)
- 1936 : Life Belongs to Us (La vie est à nous, also acted)
- 1936 : The Lower Depths (Les Bas-fonds)
- 1936 : The Crime of Monsieur Lange (Le Crime de Monsieur Lange)
- 1937 : Grand Illusion (La Grande illusion)
- 1938 : La Marseillaise
- 1938 : The Human Beast (La Bête humaine, also acted)
- 1939 : The Rules of the Game (La Règle du jeu, also acted)
- 1941 : Swamp Water (L'Étang tragique)
- 1943 : This Land Is Mine (Vivre libre)
- 1944 : Salute to France (Salut à la France)
- 1945 : The Southerner (L'Homme du sud)
- 1945 : The Diary of a Chambermaid (Le Journal d'une femme de chambre)
- 1947 : The Woman on the Beach (La Femme sur la plage)
- 1951 : The River (Le Fleuve)
- 1953 : The Golden Coach (Le Carrosse d'or)
- 1955 : French Cancan
- 1956 : Elena and Her Men (Elena et les hommes)
- 1959 : The Doctor's Horrible Experiment (Le Testament du docteur Cordelier)
- 1959 : Picnic on the Grass (Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe)
- 1962 : The Elusive Corporal (Le Caporal épinglé)
- 1969 : The Little Theatre of Jean Renoir (Le Petit Théâtre de Jean Renoir)