Katrina, or Life without joy

The film tells about the difficult fate of the young and beautiful servant Catherine Ferrand on the way to her personal happiness. While in Nice, she falls in love with her master's son, who is sick with tuberculosis. His parents are kind and helpful people. Father, is a deputy in Saint-Paul-de-Vence . His political rivals use his son’s romance with Katrina for blackmail, because of which she is forced to flee.

Since childhood, Jean Renoir was passionate about cinema, but he did not like French post-war film production and he strongly preferred American films. About the period of time in which he decided to create films, Renoir wrote in 1938 in an article in which he analyzed films and his directorial consciousness of the silent film era ^[3] :

However, having seen the tape “The Flaming Bonfire ” (1923) by I.I. Mozuzhukhin , Renoir realized that in Europe you can shoot high-quality pictures and decided to devote himself to cinema. He was also greatly impressed during this period by Erich von Stroheim 's film “ Silly Wives ” (1922). According to Renoir, this film literally stunned him: “ I watched it, there must be at least ten times. Burning what I worshiped before, I realized how much I was mistaken until then. Having stopped foolishly accusing the so-called misunderstanding of the public, I saw the opportunity to touch her with the display of genuine stories in the tradition of French realism ” ^[4] .

The first film of Renoir was the film Katrina, in which he intended to reflect his admiration for American cinema. According to Georges Sadouil, Renoir, as a wealthy movie buff, could afford to finance the film to enable his young wife Catherine Gessling (former sitter of Auguste Renoir ) to debut in the movie, which Andre Bazin later called “the real queen of silent Renoir works ” ^[4] .

But in the process of making the film, he had disagreements with Albert Dieudonne, whom he invited to be the director of the picture. Renoir was present at the shootings directed by Dieudonne, thus apparently hoping to take part in the work, to join in the creation of the film and to learn the basics of directing ^[5] . However, the customer did not find the understanding from his director, on which he counted, as evidenced by the dispute that arose between them and which became the property of the press.

So, Renoir declared in 1924: “ Mr. Dieudonne did not finish the film“ Catherine ”for me. I acted as an administrator, and Mr. Gyodonnay was hired by me as the director of the film . ” In January 1926, Dieudonne wrote about the authorship of the film: “ I am the only director of the script that I wrote on the libretto, which Mr. Jean Renoir composed [...] with my participation. In addition, Mr. Jean Renoir was my client and student. His future works will show whether I have reason to be pleased with him ” ^[5] . Renoir considered the film unsuccessful and hoped that he did not leave a trace. In 1927, Dieudonne independently re-edited the painting and in November of the same year released it under the title “Joyless Life”. It is noted that the film thematically coincides with the picture "Joyless Lane" (German: Die freudlose Gasse, 1925) by the Austrian director G.V. Pabst ^[6] .

However, despite the first unsuccessful experience, Renoir still decided to continue to engage in cinema. According to cinema expert Pierre Leproon : “ This first contact with the staging of the film puts an end to the vibrations of Renoir. In the same year he makes the first film based on the script of his friend Pierre Lestrenge, “ Daughter of the Water ”. ”

Renoir appeared in the episodic role, which he will subsequently do in many of his films. Also in the film was the screenwriter of his first films, Pierre Lestrengue ( FR. Pierre Lestringuez ) as a pimp (under the pseudonym Pierre Philippe). He will subsequently often appear in Renoir films, in the film " Nana " he will even play several characters, and in the " Country Walk " priest ^[5] .

• Bazin, Andre . Jean Renoir / Preface Jean Renoir . Enter Francois Truffaut . - M.: Museum of Cinema , 1995 . - 191 p. - ISBN 5-88395-012-4 .

• Jean Renoir: Articles, interviews, memoirs, scripts. - M.: Art , 1972 . - 256 s.
• Leproon, P. Modern French filmmakers. - M .: Publishing house of foreign literature , 1960. - 698 p.
• Sadul, J. Chapter LVIII French cinema 1925-1929 // Volume 4. Part 2. Hollywood. The end of silent cinema, 1919-1929. - M .: Art , 1982. - S. 281 - 341. - 557 p.

• " Katrina, or Life Without Joy ” on the Internet Movie Database
• Katrina, or Life without joy (neopr.) . cinéma-français.fr .