At just shy of two hours, Renoir isn't a film to take lightly, but its core is still highly interesting. Following the Renoir family, of famed painting (the father) and Hollywood fame (the son), during World War I, Renoir begins as a new model enters the household. She inspires the painter, whose health is clearly deteriorating, intrigues the youngest son, and ends up captivating the middle son who comes home wounded from the war. The film's setting on the French coast is beautiful, providing a great calming contrast to the obvious chaos of both the war and the inner turmoil of the house.
The sets, wardrobe, and cinematography all flow together seamlessly, and one of my favorite parts of the film is the music. The simple orchestration provides a beautiful backdrop to the film that juxtraposes the aforementioned tension in the household while completing the beautiful surroundings. Clearly, the relationships within the Renoir family are tense, and some of the staff has trouble related to Andrée, the Auguste's model. She becomes embroiled with some of the family drama as she becomes closer and more involved with the middle son, Jean. As their relationship blooms, tensions grow as Jean's decision to return to the war front is met with resistance.
As much as I like the idea of Renoir, it's got some issues. The inter-relational tension between several of the characters is either spot-on in the case of Jean and Andrée or totally out of the blue in the case of Andrée and the majority of the staff members. The scenes initially progressed nicely, and then suddenly I felt like I missed a transition because Andrée and Jean were ...somewhere with Italians, and I could never quite figure out how that happened. Perhaps I missed something in the subtitles, but the sudden transition seemed very out of left field.
I don't know that this film is going to be up everyone's alley. It's not the speediest thing in the world, and while it's got a smattering of romance, it's not like some Nicholas Sparks-esque novel where the two fall wildly into each other's arms at the end. It's a historical drama that's more focused on family tensions than the importance of war facts. I can't really attest to the accuracy of the Renoir facts "“ I'm not up on my artist history so much, but nothing seemed wildly improbable. If World War I, Renoir, impressionism, or France are of interest, give it a stab. It's definitely not the worst movie I've seen this year.
