Review Renoir [2012]| poetslandscape

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Renoir [2012] (directed and screenplay cowritten with the resource of Gilles Bourdos at the facet of J?R?Me Tonnerre based totally mostly on paintings thru French cinematographer Jacques Renoir) is a French (English subtitled) biopic / length piece set in 1915 (throughout World War I) that makes a speciality of the connection the famed however growing old Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (performed inside the movie by way of Michel Bouquet), his wounded but quickly to be returning to the conflict son Jean Renoir (performed within the movie by Vincent Rottiers) who later have become a famous French and later Hollywood director [IMDb], and the elder Renoir's version and later the more youthful Renoir's first spouse, Andr?E Heuschling (played via way of Christa Theret) who later went through the actress/level call Catherine Hessling [IMDb].

So a fantastic deal takes region even though at a leisurely pace amid the herbal beauty of the elder Pierre-August Renoir's farm/retreat out of doors of the town of Cagnes-Sur-Mer along the coast of Southern France at the identical time as the area that that they had all mentioned regarded (at the least in some experience) to be very a exquisite deal in danger of crumbling due to the War raging to the North.

Indeed, the War and the attitudes of the two Renoirs toward it seems to be at the center of the film:  Both the elder and the younger Renoirs are resigned to it but approach it in different ways.

The more youthful, Jean, who entered the conflict as a cavalry officer and became grievously wounded as soon as, is hurrying to heal just so he have to go back to fight again (he subsequently does, coming into the Air Corps which would not require him to must run plenty ...).

The older, Pierre-August, who had spent his life painting gentle, rolling, peaceful pictures, even refusing during the whole of his life to use the color black in any of his paintings, accepts the reality of the war and even the possibility of the political destruction of his country.  However, he refused to paint anything other than what he had always painted -- natural beauty ... with an occasional woman, clothed or less so (yes, this is an R-rated film with nudity though no more than what one would expect to see at an Impressionist museum...), occasionally thrown in.  The need for a model then would be the reason for the presence of the young pretty Andrée at Renoir's retreat and really of a whole entourage of other women who Pierre-August often kept on (working in the kitchen or around the house) when they got older so they had a place to stay after their modeling years had come to an end.

The horror of the War playing out to the North is not at all hidden in the film.  Jean had been grievously wounded in the leg.  We, the viewers, are shown the wound.  We also see Pierre-Auguste's other military aged son, Pierre, come back with a WW I era prosthetic arm, three metal claws and all.  We also see other wounded soldiers, faces burned by flames, gun powder (and worse...), missing limbs, hobbling on crutches along the various roads of the area.  It's all there, in spades really.

What Pierre-Auguste refused to do (what Pablo Picasso would do later) was to paint them.  Instead, he chose to continue to paint fields, flowers and lovely, somewhat rotund (thus cared for, not starving) young and middle aged women, all of which/whom would continue to exist no matter who won the conflict up North.

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