First, I enjoyed the cinematography of the film. There were quite a few scenes of trees and grass blowing in the summer wind on the countryside of France that were calming and beautiful.
In the movie Pierre-Auguste Renoir is depicted as having really bad arthritis in his old age which is true but that he had to have a paint brush tied to his hand is in fact erroneous based on some research I did. I thought it was funny to see that he paints his nudes as fatty's and not to the ladies real body type. I enjoyed peering into who Renoir was with lines like "Why shouldn't art be pretty? There are enough unpleasant things in the world" - he painted children, beautiful landscapes, women. It also ties into the fact that the ugly first World War was going on.
One scene got big laugh- The Renoir son's are all together walking along the beach and the eldest son says to Jean (future famous film maker) - Cinema is not for the French- we can understand how that is funny.
Overall, I enjoyed the film though at times I thought a bit more drama might make it more interesting like- the love affair between Renee and Jean, the anguish in the relationship between Coco (youngest son) and father Renoir. It was pretty tame and towards the end of the hour and fifty minute movie I was ready for it to end.
One of my reactions to many French films is that the director/film editor doesn't know when to cut and wrap it up.... Or is that my American film eyes and impatience?
ReplyDeleteI think the same applies to all film. A good editor knows when to reel it in.
ReplyDeleteI was supposed to go see this film however it was too late for me that day, so instead I watched un soir un club, however I remember seeing this movie before for an art class I took in the past and I agree the film has such pretty cinematography and has a lot of drama elements.
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