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Those who’ve read this blog before (and you know who you are!) will know that I’ve made a case for Jean Renoir being perhaps the greatest director of all time. As Peter Bogdanovich has noted, during the 1930s he made a virtually unprecedented string of masterpieces, including Grand Illusion, La Bête Humaine and The Rules of the Game.
Here’s a clip from one of those films, Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932), that illustrates some of Renoir’s genius. It’s a tracking shot through the halls of a typical Paris apartment of the period. The maid leaves the table of her employers, pauses in the intermediate hall, then reappears doubly-framed in the kitchen window. The camera glides over and between these spaces, emphasizing the differences in social class — a major theme of the film — as the maid moves from living spaces to hallway to kitchen, from the realm of her employers to her own domain. At the end of the track, the camera pushes in, and then a reverse shot brings us into the maid’s point of view. Notice the deep focus Renoir helped pioneer, and the use of frames within frames to suggest enclosure and confinement; in Renoir’s world, even the bourgeoisie are trapped in their own milieu.
Enjoy!
(Unlike many of Renoir’s 1930s masterpieces, Boudu is available on DVD in a fine Criterion Collection edition.)
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I really need to catch up on this guy’s work. I think I’ve seen RULES OF THE GAME and GRAND ILLUSION, but at the time I was a young punk, obsessed with spaghetti westerns.
Now I’m an older, more thoughful punk, still obsessed with spaghetti westerns.
Really, though. The clip above is a great sequence. Such gorgeous photography. Thanks for sharing!
Well, you’ve seen what most consider his two greatest works. There are more to be had from this period from Netflix, but not nearly all.
As for THIS aging punk, I think I need to see more spaghetti westerns.
Stunning. I’ve been meaning to see this film for what feels like forever and this has wet my appetite even more.
Great post, now I’m off to watch the next one.
Boudu is a special flick. I will be buying the Criterion version, which has some nice extras, and it’s one of their lower-tier titles as well. I’ve got French Can Can here at home; it’s from his post-Hollywood period, and in color. I’m gonna see it in the next couple of days. Thanks for the comment, Ibetolis.
Sometimes, Rick, I hate you. Here I am, minding my own business, reading some film blogs, thinking I’m somewhat “up to date” on my film viewing and BAM! I get hit with another gem like this. Thanks a lot. Now I have to put this one on my list of things to see, along with any number of other films you’ve suggested.
What a gorgeous tracking shot. Genius? I think so. I have to get studied up on my Renoir. My film vocabulary is sadly lacking in terms of his films. Thanks for the clip.
Well, it’s good to be hated for a good cause. But seriously, I think that I’d like to be more up to date on some newer films … I’ve never seen a Michael Heneke, for instance, so I didn’t know what all the brew-ha-ha was all about over Funny Games. It all kind of evens out, I think.
Thanks for the comments, my friend.