JEAN RENOIR The humanist

Five Essential Films Boudu Saved From Drowning Grand Illusion The Rules of the Game La Bete Humaine The Golden Coach

A Few Rarely Seen The Little Match Girl Crime of Monseur Lange La Chienne Toni

"I am against great themes and great subjects. To me, a theme is exactly like a landscape for a painter. It is just and excuse. You can't film an idea. The camera is an instrument for recording physical impact."

There's an obvious irony in the above quotation because Renoir excelled at making films with great subjects and themes. But the comment says more about his integrity than anything else. Perhaps he didn't feel the themes and subjects were great but rather were  the way things are supposed to be. Renoir is one of the few filmmakers who can make a film with a cynical subject matter and make it vital and human. Take La Chienne for example. In the film a woman and her low life boyfriend totally degrade and exploit a banker for both his money and his talent. But Renoir keeps everything above the fray letting each character have some form of respect without us pitying them. The film was remade by Fritz Lang as Scarlett Street as a very pointed cynical film. Where Lang seemed to revel in the pity of it all, Renoir ends the film on an upbeat note showing that even if you've lost everything you can still get a laugh out of life. Sometimes this didn't serve him well. La Grand Illusion might be a little light for it's subject matter. But Rules of The Game is almost perfect in it's mixture of irony, social commentary and hedonism.

Bigger essay coming soon.