Renoir

1915, the south of France. Pierre-Auguste Renoir is old and ill; his hands will not hold and he has the brush tied to his fingers, and he is still painting. There are women in the house who look after him. One day a new model arrives: Andrée is young and sure of herself. The painter begins working with her. In the same period his son Jean comes back wounded from the front. He stays in the house while he recovers. Jean and Andrée grow close. The father goes on painting and does not know what his son will do. Gilles Bourdos directs. Michel Bouquet plays Renoir, Christa Théret plays Andrée and Vincent Rottiers plays Jean. The people at the centre are real; Andrée later acted in Jean Renoir's first films and the two married. The photography is by Mark Lee Ping-bing and the lighting is brought close to the manner of the paintings. The matter it treats is going on working; the old painter does not stop although his body will not serve. The narrative builds the difference between father and son through art; one wants colour and the body, the other movement and record. Its limit is plot; the narrative tells very little and the pace is deliberately kept low. It was submitted as France's entry for the Oscars. Who it is for: viewers who like biographies of artists and visually strong films. Who it is not for: almost nothing happens, the pace is very slow, and the characters are distanced.