Jean Renoir

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Lore & Background

Renoir was born in the Montmartre district of Paris, the second son of Aline Renoir and the Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. He was largely raised by his nanny Gabrielle Renard, who introduced him to Guignol puppet shows and took him to see his first film. During World War I, he served in the French cavalry and later as a reconnaissance pilot after receiving a bullet in his leg; the injury left him with a permanent limp but allowed him to watch films while recuperating, including works by Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith. After the war, he tried making ceramic art at his father's suggestion but soon turned to filmmaking, inspired by Erich von Stroheim's work. In the 1930s, Renoir enjoyed great success. He directed his first sound films in 1931: *On purge bébé* and *La Chienne*. His 1937 film *La Grande Illusion* was the first foreign-language film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. His 1939 film *The Rules of the Game* was his greatest commercial failure, met with derision at its premiere; it was banned by the government after the outbreak of World War II, and the original negative was destroyed in an Allied bombing raid. It was reconstructed in the 1950s by French film enthusiasts Jean Gaborit and Jacques Durand with Renoir's cooperation, and has since frequently appeared near the top of critics' polls of the best films ever made. After Germany invaded France in May 1940, Renoir fled to the United States with Dido Freire. In Hollywood, he made *The Southerner* (1945), which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Directing. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States. In 1949 he traveled to India to shoot *The River* (1951), his first color film and the first color film shot in India. He later made a trilogy of color musical comedies: *The Golden Coach* (1952), *French Cancan* (1955), and *Elena and Her Men* (1956).

Reader's Guide

Jean Renoir's significance lies in his humanist approach to cinema and his status as one of the first filmmakers recognized as an auteur. Critic Penelope Gilliatt remarked that a Renoir shot could be identified "in a thousand miles of film." Pauline Kael wrote, "At his greatest, Jean Renoir expresses the beauty in our common humanity—the desires and hopes, the absurdities and follies, that we all, to one degree or another, share." Per *The New York Times*, his style—a mixture of tenderness, irony, and Gallic insouciance—was caught in a famous line from *The Rules of the Game*, spoken by Octave, played by Renoir himself: "You see, in this world, there is one awful thing, and that is that everyone has his reasons." His legacy includes influencing the French New Wave; his 1935 film *Toni*, shot on locations with a nonprofessional cast, was later an influence on that movement. Renoir's work continues to be studied for its technical mastery and deep empathy for its characters.

Did You Know?

• Renoir was the son of the Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and the uncle of cinematographer Claude Renoir.
• He was one of the first filmmakers to be known as an auteur; critic Penelope Gilliatt said a Renoir shot could be identified 'in a thousand miles of film.'
• His 1937 film *La Grande Illusion* was the first foreign-language film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
• The original negative of *The Rules of the Game* was destroyed in an Allied bombing raid; it was reconstructed in the 1950s with Renoir's cooperation.
• Renoir's 1951 film *The River* was the first color film shot in India.