058 - A Day in the Country, 1936, France. Dir. Jean Renoir.

Monday, February 27, 2017

058 - A Day in the Country, 1936, France. Dir. Jean Renoir.

Remember the first film we saw this year?

Yes.

It was People on Sunday (001, January 1), directed by Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer.  It included the work of Curt Siodmak, Fred Zinnemann, and Billy Wilder.

It was released in 1930.

It was a light, lyrical story about a group of young city people, in Berlin, who spent a day in the country, by the water, on the water, and then went their separate ways.

The filmmakers went on to have great careers in film.

With today's film we return to this idea.

A Day in the Country was directed by Jean Renoir.

It was released in 1936.

It is a light, lyrical story about a group of city people, from Paris, who spend a day in the country, by the water, on the water, who meet a couple of young French country men, and then go their separate ways.

It was made by people who went on to have great careers in film.

Jean Renoir was already established, but consider his team.

Imagine making a movie with these gentlemen as your assistants: Claude Renoir, Jacques Becker, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Luchino Visconti.

Wow.

Here is a brief overview of who they were.

Claude Renoir (1913-1993) was Jean Renoir's nephew, the son of his brother.  He worked on seven of Jean Renoir's films, many French films for some legendary French directors, and American films including the Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton epic Cleopatra, Henry Hathaway's Circus World starring John Wayne and Rita Hayworth, The Madwoman of Chaillot starring Katharine Hepburn, the Jane Fonda adventure fantasy Barbarella, John Frankenheimer's French Connection II starring Gene Hackman as Popeye Doyle, and the James Bond hit The Spy Who Loved Me.

Jacques Becker (1906-1960) went on to become a major French director.  For some, he is one of France's best, although there are so many great French film directors it is difficult to compare them.  He chose to stay in France after being offered employment by Hollywood mogul King Vidor.  He worked on seven of Jean Renoir's films and for several other directors before moving out on his own. 

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) began life as a painter and voracious reader before going on to become one of the world's great photographers.  He worked as a Second Assistant Director on our film and returned for Renoir's masterpiece The Rules of the Game (1939).  He would travel the world shooting photographs of great artists and events.  He shot for Life magazine.  He published books and showed in many exhibitions.  He is credited for having influenced the documentary style known as cinéma vérité.

Luchino Visconti (19) went on to become one of the great Italian directors.  He is ranked among Italy's best, along with Fellini, Rossellini, Antonioni, Leone, and Di Sica.  His films most known to American audiences include Rocco and His Brothers (1960), The Leopard (1963) and Death in Venice (1971).  We will watch some of his films later this year.

Monsieur Dufour takes his wife Juliette, her mother, their daughter Henriette, and her fiancé Anatole on a picnic in the country.  While there, they meet Henri and Rodolphe, who immediately compete with each other over Henriette.  While the men go fishing, Henri succeeds in getting Henriette into his skiff, and Rodolphe settles for the mother in his.  The two couples each go for a separate ride along the river.  Henri and Henriette end up in a secluded spot.  He seduces her.  She resists and then relents.  One can see in her eyes her struggle between her desire for Henri and her duty to Anatole.  Years later she is married to Anatole and she meets Henri again when they return to the same spot.

She looks at him.

He tells her he remembers their time together.

She tells him she thinks about it every day.