On its initial release Renoir’s masterwork was greeted with contempt by critics, hostility by audiences and banned by the French government as “subversive” and “demoralising”. This restored version, put together under Renoir’s direction, makes available again one of the most acclaimed films ever made. A group of wealthy aristocratic and bourgeois Parisians holiday at their friend’s country chateau. There, as their amoral relationships turn alternately tragic or absurd, their lives and class are revealed as ultimately empty and decaying. Featuring some of the most beautifully constructed and edited sequences in film, Renoir’s direction - though seemingly understated - manages to convey the richness and complexity of a whole era and class: an era that World War II was to bring to an end. In French with English subtitles.
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Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
303630
Languages
English
French
Audience classification
PG
Subject categories
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Foreign language films
Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Class consciousness
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Black and White
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)