Swift shot: Renoir has never fascinated me. Impressionism as a rule is not my personal go-to when I enjoy art. This was a challenge for me to let go of my apathy and immerse myself into a foreign film about an artistic style I don’t favor. For these types of films I only ask one thing, keep me interested, and Renoir did manage to do that. But, the Renoir I was most interested in, was not Le Patron . . . rather his son, the solider. Go figure.
Whenever delving into a biopic, I want to learn something new. I want to make sure I leave after seeing the film a little wiser or more cultured. For that reason, I give Renoir credit. But, I learned very little about Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Michel Bouquet), and with the nuanced story-telling, I learned very little about Jean Renoir (Vincent Rottiers), or even Andree Heuschling (Christa Theret) for that matter. But, what I did learn from watching Renoir is why his art was devoid of negativity and that his colors were meant to blend into an almost wispy blur of incoherence. “The colors have to fuck,” as he puts it in the film. And he makes a solid point that the world has enough black in it, as in darkness, so he wanted to leave the world with something beautiful. I guess even non-enthusiastic fans would be hard pressed to say his art isn’t classically “beautiful” compared to the horrors of the world.
Alas, unlike what I was hoping, this is not the life story of Renoir, nor is it really the life story of anyone, it is a brief chapter of a family surrounded by death, living in a fantasia of color and purity . . . but there wasn’t enough. It felt like the whole thing was rushed, which, after you see it’s plodding pace you may find yourself scratching your head on that statement. But, what I mean is what was missing from Renoir was all the lines. In his own words, Renoir explains it brilliantly, “It’s not about lines, it’s about the colors.” Indeed, the colors and the chapters blend together to wash away characters that I might have wanted to know more about, if there were any real lines.
Renoir, directed by Gilles Bourdos is about the famous artist’s last years, living and still painting in the French Riviera. Set in 1915, Renoir uses the entrance of ingenue Andree as a new model to the Patron.
RENOIR will be opening FRIDAY at the Miami Dade College Tower Theater and the Living Room Cinema (Boca Raton)
Renoir is what you would expect of a French film about an artist surrounded by young, beautiful, naked women . . . it is about passion and love and sacrifice, but you will need to endure a lot of creative artistic cinematography to enjoy the film. Some of the characters were ennuyeux, just a nuisance to the story really, and others should have been developed with more life.
Still, Renoir deserves special praise for balancing, albeit not flawlessly, an artist’s pain and fear as he tries to capture the last bright sunrises life has to offer before his canvass is torn. And, if nothing else, watching it definitely earned me some cultural cool points. There is nudity aplenty in this film, so be warned if that sort of thing offends you. But, maybe you could lighten up a bit! Impressionist students will get that joke!
