My Life and My Films

Jean Renoir is among the two or three greatest directors of all time. A man who made 20 masterpieces, changed the face of cinema with his dynamic compositions, narrative flexibility and ability to direct actors. Indeed his genius with actors, some among the very best(Laughton, Gabin, Fresnay, Marcel Dalio, Dita Parlo, Ingrid Bergman, Anna Magnani) and others who are non-professionals or newcomers(the cast of Toni, The River) isn't derived out of tyrannical dictatorship but out of an abililty to help his actors to find the characters within them as well as doing it in a way that made it seem it was their idea rather than his. In his autobiography, Renoir doesn't describe each and every one of his films in detail. Even the films which he talks about he doesn't go far into the details of how the film was shot, the actual experience of production, the numerous hassles and practical difficulties that he had undoubtedly faced in his legendary classics like ''Grande Illusion'', ''Regle du Jeu'', ''The River'', ''La Chienne'' and such and such. In that sense the book is a dissapointment yet to those who want a look at the man himself and his way of thinking which is helpful in giving further insight into his films, the book is priceless. Renoir the man stands in contrast to his image as a ''great intellectual's film-maker'', indeed Renoir himself expresses astonishment at being regarded by his enemies as a transgressive revolutionary and by his friends as a radical innovator. As someone who made it his life's mission to reveal human beings as beyond categories and labels, it comes at no surprise that he is both none of his labels and all of it at the same time. Renoir's innovation is that he was able to be truthful to all at all times and at the same time be able to do so in different ways...on occasion rigorous naturalism(''Toni'', ''La Bete Humaine'', ''The Southerner'') at others glorious theatricality(His colour trilogy of the 50's) he maintains that his greatest concern is the search for ''inward truth''. Renoir is rare among canonical giants in that his films if subtitled properly can be seen and enjoyed by anyone. No film degree or intellectual rigiour is needed to enjoy the magic of seeing Renoir. This falls in with Renoir's philosophy of people being connected by horizontal lines rather than vertical lines. People from Cambodia to Finland can appreciate Jean Renoir as much as if not more than Frenchmen. The remarkable aspect of Renoir's book is it's refreshing optimism. Written at the end of his career, Renoir admits that he'll never make another film again yet there's no bitterness at the prospect only acceptance of his long, difficult career(especially in the 30's where he considered quitting cinema several times), the love of his family and friends and his awareness of himself as a part of the world and of the role the world played in shaping and influencing him. One can find the fullest expression of this theme in ''The River'', one o

Jean Renoir is one of the greatest masters of the art of cinema. This autobiographical work traces his life from his childhood in France to his later years in Beverly Hills, not in the conventional sense, but rather through the world of film. This is fitting since the world of film was truly Jean Renoir's world.Jean Renoir, middle son of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, made his first public debut quite early, albeit quite reluctantly, as the little boy with the long, golden curls who figures so prominently in many of his famous father's paintings.Jean Renoir's early life, in later 19th century France, was dominated by two people--his father and Gabrielle Renard, his maternal cousin, who was to become his nanny and later, his dearest friend. While it was Auguste Renoir who introduced Jean to the world of art, it was Gabrielle who led him to the cinema. Jean, himself, says, "To her I owe Guignol and the Theatre Montmarte. She taught me to realize that the very unreality of those entertainments was a reason for examining real life. She taught me to see the face behind the masks and the fraud behind the flourishes."Jean Renoir begins and ends this book with Gabrielle Renard, and, along the way, he examines and reveals the profound influence this marvelous woman exerted over him. In characteristic fashion Jean writes more about others than about himself. He lets us peer into the lives of the actors, technicians and producers with whom he worked, in places as diverse as Paris, Hollywood and even India. And, also characteristic of Jean, the unknown often play a role as large or larger than do the very famous. While most of Jean Renoir's personal life remains unrevealed (this is definitely not a vapid, "tell all" tale!), he does tell us how and why he became a filmmaker and he goes to great lengths when explaining the relationship between film and life. From the depths of his dazzling imagination, Jean Renoir created nearly forty films, films that Francois Truffaut called, "the most alive films in the history of cinema." Two of these films, Grand Illusion and The Rules of the Game, are often thought of as Jean Renoir's masterpieces.But other films also live on, including The River, the lyrically beautiful film Jean Renoir made in India, and The Southerner, a poetic tale in which all the characters are heroic, in which every element plays its part and all come together in an act of homage to divinity.This book should be required reading for all students of film everywhere for, as Garson Kanin said of Jean Renoir, "In the world he inhabits he is known as the best of men. In the cinema universe he is a living god."Everyone, I believe, film student or just a lover of film, can find something to love in My Life and My Films, for Jean Renoir was a man of immense and daring imagination and creativity; he was both simple in outlook yet profound, but above all, he was a lover of humanity, one whose heart and spirit were

Jean Renoir, the son of the Impressionist painter Pierre Auguste Renoir, is regarded as one of the all-time great film directors. Two of his films, "La Grande Illusion" and "La Regle du Jeu", regularly feature on critics' lists of the greatest films ever created. Even now, over 60 years after some of his films were made, they still seem fresher and more modern (as well as more entertaining) than most of the films produced today.This warm and witty book presents Renoir's own view of his life and career. It is not only filled with engaging insights into Renoir's own films and his views on cinema in general, but also amply stocked with vivid anecdotes, from visiting Berlin at the time of Hitler's rise to power to watching Jean Gabin and Marlene Dietrich quarrel in Hollywood.For those who already know and love Renoir's films, this will be essential reading; for those who have not yet discovered them, this book should make them realize what they have been missing out on.