Renoir, Jean

Jean Renoir was born on September 15, 1894 in Paris , in the Montmartre district, in the family of impressionist painter Auguste Renoir .

At the end of his studies, having received a bachelor's degree, Jean Renoir served military service in 1914 . Enrolled in a dragoon regiment stationed in Vincennes , he attends courses for reserve officers and enters the front as a junior lieutenant. There he was seriously injured in the thigh, which left him with a slight limp, and in 1915 he was demobilized. Then he enters aviation, where, after special training, becomes an observer pilot and ends the war with the rank of lieutenant.

From a young age, Jean was engaged in painting, then ceramics, attended theaters, read a lot. He has been fond of cinema since childhood, about which he writes in an article published by Le Poin magazine in 1938 : “I had to go to the cinema three times a day for a long time. This means that I consumed seven or eight films a day, by the end of the week they were fifty, and by the end of the month - two hundred. The thought of working in the cinema did not visit me. It seemed to me that it was impossible to create something of their own in France ”, but after watching“ The Burning Bonfire ”with Mozuzhin in the title role, he changed his mind ^[9] .

At the end of the war, Jean Renoir meets Catherine Gessling , the model of his father, and in 1919 he marries her. Subsequently, she played in many of his films. Since 1925 he took up cinema, participating in the creation of the film Katrina, or Life without Joy , where his first role was played by his wife, whom Andre Bazin later called the "real queen of the silent works of Renoir" ^[10] . In the autumn of 1925 , at the cinema “Old Dovecote” the first production of J. Renoir - “ Daughter of Water ” was shown, according to the script of his friend Pierre Lestrenge, and where, according to Georges Sadoule , the director paid great attention to nature, actors and picturesqueness close to impressionism ^[9] . After the first directorial experience, large-scale work followed - the film adaptation of the novel by Emil Zol “Nana” ( 1926 ). Having received the consent of the daughter of the writer Leblond-Zola, who became the editor of the script, Renoir somewhat departed from the original (reducing the number of characters that, in his opinion, could confuse the viewer, consciously allowed costumes in 1871 fashion, plot). He did not take into account the costs and even sold several of his father's canvases.

The film, shot in France and Germany, cost a million francs - a very significant amount at the time, but financially failed due to distributor errors ^[9] . Summing up the work in silent cinema, Renoir said: “I made only one film -“ Nana ”; the rest is sport and commerce. ” The financial failure of the film, which he partially funded, forced the director to switch to the production of purely commercial films, mainly costume historical melodramas. Among them: “Marquitte” ( 1927 ) - romantic adventures of the prince of one of the states of Central Europe; “Tournament” ( 1928 ) - historical reconstruction, shot in Carcassonne ; Colonies ( 1929 ) - a film commissioned by the French government to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the conquest of Algeria ; "Loafer" (1928-1929), which was an American-style comedy. Renoir stated then: “The rhythm is above all. I see him not in the installation, but in the acting ” ^[9] .

However, among these films there was creative luck: in 1928 he put on “ A Girl with Matches ” based on Andersen's tale. The film was shot in the attic of the Old Pigeon Theater, converted into a film pavilion. According to P. Leproon , it was a poetic and inventively made film, which for the first time revealed the great directorial talent of J. Renoir in its entirety. Andre Bazin wrote about the film: “Renoir’s enthusiastic curiosity for stunt shooting, the almost sensual pleasure evoked in him by the originality of these enchanting pictures - this is, to a much greater extent, than Andersen's fairy tale, the source of poetry inherent in the film.”

Renoir wrote:

The appearance of sound in the movie opened up completely new opportunities for the director. Renoir shoots The Bitch ( 1931 ) based on the novel by de la Fuchardier. In this picture, Renoir came close to the style that would later be called " poetic realism ." For the first time in the work of the director, those “deep” shots appear that will become a characteristic stylistic sign of all his works.

Later, Renoir recalled: “To my misfortune, the struggle that had to be fought in order to put the Bitch on my feet created a reputation for me as a person who was very unsociable, so after this film it was extremely difficult for me to find a job. I lived somehow, occasionally making wretched films, right up to the moment when Marcel Pagnol gave me the opportunity to shoot Tony. The pre-war period was marked by three more significant paintings: these are The Great Illusion ( 1937 ), The Beast Man ( 1938 ) and The Rules of the Game ( 1939 ). ”

During the war, Renoir takes off in the United States.

In 1951, Renoir shot the film “The Golden Carriage”, which is a free adaptation of the play “The Carriage of the Holy Gifts” by Prosper Merimee with Anna Magnani in the title role, which the director called a dramatic fantasy in the style of comedy del arte . In the opinion of Georges Sadoule, this picture was not completely successful for him, yielding to his pre-war work: “Neither the delightful Magnani, nor the subtle sense of color, nor the techniques borrowed from Italian folk comedy, nor the carefully made stage settings, were enough to elevate this divertissement created by Renoir , deprived of the same wit Merimee, to the level of previous productions of Renoir ” ^[11] .

Given this commercial failure, Renoir in search of a suitable plot and funding for two years was left without directing work. He considered several options, among which he was going to shoot the film "Poachers", to film the novel " First Love " by I. S. Turgenev ^[12] , he also had ideas about creating a film about Vincent Van Gogh , but in the summer of 1954 Renoir began preparatory work for filming of the movie “French Cancan” based on the plot of the scriptwriter Andre-Paul Antoine . This picture was originally planned for the director Yves Allegre , but Renoir became interested in her theme and ultimately this project was entrusted to him.

According to the French critic Jacques Lursel, three paintings by Renoir of the 50s “The Golden Carriage ”, “The French Cancan ” and “ Helen and Men ” together constitute a kind of trilogy in which the director pays tribute to three types of spectacle: the Italian comedy del arte , cafesantan and puppet theater ^[13] .

Since 1960, Renoir taught directing at the University of Berkeley (USA). At the Oscars ceremony in 1975, he was awarded an honorary prize for aggregate creativity ^[14] . On behalf of the director (who was seriously ill), Ingrid Bergman received a reward for him, who in her speech noted that all of Renoir's films are distinguished by his inherent individuality, poetry and subtle lyricism, the main content of his paintings is his own love for people, no matter how their essence was manifested: from nobility to madness. And then, holding a reward in her hands, she turned right to the camera and added: “In gratitude for everything that you taught young film figures and viewers around the world, I tell you on their behalf:“ Thank you, we love you, Jean “” ^[15] .

In the French movie press of the 1950s, a real cult of Renoir is created. Francois Truffaut noted: “He influenced us all not only as a cinematographer, but also in the worldview: as a philosopher, writer, as a person of great mind ... Renoir was interested in living people. Renoir's philosophy is tolerance, mercy, a desire to understand others ... ”, a book by Andre Bazin (“ the best movie book ”, as defined by François Truffaut) is dedicated to his work. Eric Romer noted: “Renoir’s modernism should not be attributed to the same modernism that is characteristic of Antonioni or Wenders: it is completely different, unique, inimitable. Renoir is the least theatrical of all of them directors; he went the farthest in criticizing the theater. And at the same time, he is closer to the theater. ”

Woody Allen , recalling his youthful preferences, recalled that: “The films of Jean Renoir also made a stunning impression:“ Rules of the Game ”,“ Great Illusion ”, his beautiful short film“ Country Walk ”” ^[16] .

Martin Scorsese said: “I remember when I watched Renoir’s films as a child and at the same time I felt a connection with his characters, thanks to the director’s love for them.” Robert Altman , who was called Renoir's stylistic successor, admired his film “The Rules of the Game” and said: “The Rules of the Game taught me the rules of the game.”

Orson Welles said in an interview: “I adored Renoir, simply idolized him ... For me he was God ... it is he who I admire in the history of cinema more than anyone else; I have other idols, but he is not comparable with anyone. I hate “prizes”, but if I had to choose, I would recognize Renoir as the greatest director ... ” ^[17]

Silent Films (France)

Sound films (France)

Films made in the USA

Films made after returning from the USA

• Bazin, Andre . Jean Renoir / Preface Jean Renoir . Enter Francois Truffaut . M.: Museum of Cinema , 1995 . - 191 p.: Ill. - ISBN 5-88395-012-4 : 15
• Bergman, Ingrid ; [ Burgess, Alan ]. My life / Afterword by V. S. Solovyov . M .: Rainbow, 1988 . - 493 p.: Ill. - ISBN 0-440-14085-4 , ISBN 5-05-002299-1
• Jean Renoir: My life and my films. M .: Art , 1981 . - 240 p.
• Jean Renoir: Articles, interviews, memoirs, scripts. M .: Art , 1972 . - 256 s.
• Mussky I.A. 100 Great Foreign Films. - Moscow: Veche, 2008 .-- 480 p. - 5,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-9533-2750-3.
• Wells about Wells / Comp., Commentary, translation by N. Tsyrkun . M .: Rainbow, 1990 .
• Jean Renoir, Bert Cardullo. Jean Renoir: interviews Univ. Press of Mississippi (2005). Date of treatment October 18, 2010.

Gideon Bachmann Conversation with Jean Renoir. Interview Translation, Session Magazine Material