Jean RenoirFilmography

Born:: September 15, 1894 in Montmartre, Paris, France
Occupation:: Director, Screenwriter
Biography:: The son of the painter Auguste Renoir, Jean Renoir became one of France's most important and respected filmmakers during the middle of the 20th century. A Philosophy and Math student, Renoir became a cavalryman, but was invalided out of the army before World War I. He subsequently joined the...Read More

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Carola

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Leslie Caron, Mel Ferrer

Synopsis: Norman Lloyd directed this televised production of Jean Renoir's World War II-era play. Taking place backstage at a theatrical performance in Nazi-occupied France, Carola is a tale of passion and intrigue that involves a beautiful stage actress and her emotional and psychological struggles over a Read More

1973
The Christian Licorice Store

Actors: Dawn Cleary, Louis DeFarra, Rusty Durrell, Bruce Graziano, Dido Renoir, Gary Rose

Synopsis: In this comedy a golden-boy tennis player in search of Life's meaning is corrupted by Hollywood, too much praise, and the temptation to sell out. His life therefore, becomes a metaphor for the morals of Hollywood society. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

1971
Le Petit Theatre de Jean Renoir

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Fernand Sardou, Nini Formicola, Marguerite Cassan, Françoise Arnoul

Synopsis: Jean Renoir's last completed work was this made-for-television effort, comprised of three short films along with a musical interlude courtesy of Jeanne Moreau. Included are The Last Christmas Dinner, The Electric Floor Waxer and A Tribute to Tolerance. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

1969
Le Caporal Epinglé

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Jean-Pierre Cassel, Claude Brasseur, Claude Rich, Jean Carmet, Jacques Jouanneau

Synopsis: The eponymous French corporal, played by Jean-Pierre Cassel, is ensconced in a German POW camp. Cassel plots with his friends Claude Brasseur and Claude Rich to escape, but all three are recaptured. When the corporal plans another getaway, he finds that one of his chums isn't interested anymore. Read More

1962
The Testament of Dr. Cordelier

Crew: Director

Actors: Jean-Louis Barrault, Jean Topart, Michel Vitold

Synopsis: Also known as Experiment in Evil, Jean Renoir's Testament of Dr. Cordelier was originally produced for French television. This retelling of the Jeckyll-Hyde legend adheres to Renoir's long-standing leitmotif of the individual who must stand alone because he is incapable of Read More

1959
Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Paul Meurisse, Catherine Rouvel, Jean-Pierre Granval, Fernand Sardou

Synopsis: Jean Renoir never made any secret that Picnic on the Grass (Le Dejeuner sur L'Herbe) was inspired by the impressionist paintings of his father Auguste Renoir, and also of Edouard Monet. The near-surrealistic plotline concerns priggish US presidential candidate Paul Meurisse, who carries on a Read More

1959
Elena and Her Men

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Ingrid Bergman, Jean Marais, Mel Ferrer, Jean Richard, Pierre Bertin, Magali Noël, Elina Labourdette

Synopsis: In the 1950s, French films were considered the ne plus ultra in naughtiness by certain impressionable filmgoers. It was to these movie fans that the American distributor of Jean Renoir's Elena et les Hommes (Elena and the Men) catered when it provocatively retitled the picture Paris Does Read More

9/12/56
French Cancan

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Jean Gabin, Maria Felix, Françoise Arnoul, Gaston Modot, Gianni Esposito

Synopsis: Beautifully photographed, this comedy drama from Jean Renoir chronicles the revival of Paris' most notorious dance as it tells the story of a theater producer who turns a humble washerwoman into a star at the Moulin Rouge. The film is also title Only the French Can. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Read More

12/27/54
The Golden Coach

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Anna Magnani, Duncan Lamont, Riccardo Rioli, Odoardo Spadaro, Paul Campbell

Synopsis: Set in 18th-century South America, The Golden Coach (Le Carrosse D'Or) stars Anna Magnani as an earthy Commedia Del Arte performer. Magnani is lusted after by diplomat Duncan Lamont, who leaves both his job and his mistress to pursue the sexy actress. Also vying for Magnani's favors are a Read More

12/3/52
The River

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Nora Swinburne, Esmond Knight, Arthur Shields, Thomas E. Breen, Suprova Mukerjee, Patricia Walters

Synopsis: The River must be seen in its original Technicolor; it is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine anyone fully enjoying this wonderful film while watching a black-and-white TV print. Adapted by director Jean Renoir and Rumer Godden from Godden's own novel, the film is set on the banks of West Read More

1951
The Ways of Love

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Sylvia Bataille, Gabriel, Jane Marken [Jeanne]

Synopsis: The Ways of Love grew from an unfinished film: Jean Renoir's A Day in the Country, of which 46 minutes had been completed before funds ran out. In this French/Italian compendium, Country is combined with Marcel Pagnol's 1933 short subject Jofroi and Roberto Rosselini's 1948 character study The Miracle Read More

1950
Il Miracolo

Actors: Anna Magnani

Synopsis: Both controversial and compelling, this is the story of a naive peasant girl who becomes pregnant after being seduced by a shepherd and believes that she is carrying a specially blessed child. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide Read More

1948
The Woman on the Beach

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Joan Bennett, Robert Ryan, Charles Bickford, Nan Leslie, Walter Sande

Synopsis: A WWII Coast Guard veteran, Lt. Scott Burnett (Robert Ryan), is plagued by nightmares of his combat days. One day, he meets a woman, Peggy Butler (Joan Bennett), walking on a beach, picking up pieces of wood. Butler is married to a grumpy, blind painter, Ted Butler (Charles Bickford). Despite his Read More

1947
Diary of a Chambermaid

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Paulette Goddard, Burgess Meredith, Hurd Hatfield, Francis Lederer, Judith Anderson

Synopsis: Based on the novel by Octave Mirbeau, Diary of a Chambermaid is a noble experiment: a "Continental" sex drama with a virtually all-Anglo cast. Paulette Goddard plays the title character, a saucy servant named Celestine whose forthrightness has a curious effect on a wealthy Parisian household. Read More

1946
A Day in the Country

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Sylvia Bataille, Jane Marken [Jeanne], Georges Darnoux, Paul Temps

Synopsis: Jean Renoir's A Day in the Country is a short and semisweet romantic vignette based on a story by Guy de Maupassant. A group of family members spend a day away from the city in the French countryside. While the men go off to fish, the mother (Jeanne Marken) has a harmless flirtation with a rural Read More

1946
The Southerner

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Zachary Scott, Betty Field, Beulah Bondi, Bunny Sunshine, Percy Kilbride, J. Carrol Naish, Jay Gilpin

Synopsis: The Southerner was Jean Renoir's favorite of his American films. Shot on location, the film stars Zachary Scott as a sharecropper who yearns for a place of his own. On a tiny, scraggly patch of land, Scott tries to make a go of things, along with his wife Betty Field, his grandmother Beulah Bondi Read More

1945
This Land Is Mine

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara, George Sanders, Walter Slezak, Kent Smith

Synopsis: Written by Dudley Nichols and directed by French expatriate director Jean Renoir, This Land is Mine is one of those "inspirational" wartime dramas that just don't hold up too well when seen today. The scene is an unnamed European country, recently overrun by the Nazis (this takes place during a Read More

1943
Swamp Water

Crew: Director

Actors: Walter Brennan, Walter Huston, Anne Baxter, Dana Andrews, Virginia Gilmore

Synopsis: Noted French director Jean Renoir made his American debut with this 1941 film. Walter Brennan plays Tom Keefer, a man who is falsely convicted of a murder and sentenced to death by hanging. He has escaped from prison and is hiding out in Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp. Keefer is dedicated to finding Read More

1941
La Tosca

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Imperio Argentina, Michel Simon, Rossano Brazzi, Massimo Girotti

Synopsis: This troubled film version of the Puccini opera was begun by Jean Renoir while lecturing in Italy at the invitation of dictator Benito Mussolini. After only a few scenes had been shot, Italy entered WW II and Renoir had to flee, leaving his assistant Carl Koch to complete the film. The familiar Read More

1940
The Rules of the Game

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Nora Gregor, Jean Renoir, Marcel Dalio, Roland Toutain, Paulette Dubost

Synopsis: Now often cited as one of the greatest films ever made, Jean Renoir's La Règle du jeu/Rules of the Game was not warmly received on its original release in 1939: audiences at its opening engagements in Paris were openly hostile, responding to the film with shouts of derision, and distributors cut Read More

1939
La Bête Humaine

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Jean Gabin, Simone Simon, Julien Carette, Fernand Ledoux, Jean Renoir, Blanchette Brunoy

Synopsis: Based on a novel by Emile Zola, La Bete Humaine weaves a mesmerizing tale of a tragic triangle. Train engineer Jean Gabin lusts after Simone Simon, the wife of his co-worker Fernand Ledoux. When Ledoux is in danger of losing his job, Simon offers herself to her husband's boss. In jealous pique, Ledoux Read More

1938
The Spanish Earth

1937
La Marseillaise

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Pierre Renoir, Lise Delamare, Louis Jouvet, Léon Larive, Aimé Clariond, Andrex

Synopsis: Jean Renoir's epic account of the French Revolution juxtaposes the opulent life of King Louis XVI with the poverty of the commoners who rose up to overthrow the monarchy in 1789. The film's title comes from the rallying song which grew out of the peasants' march on the Bastille, the song that Read More

1937
Grand Illusion

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, Erich Von Stroheim, Marcel Dalio, Dita Parlo, Julien Carette

Synopsis: Frequently cited as both one of the greatest films about war and one of the greatest films ever made, Jean Renoir's La Grande Illusion is an often witty, sometimes poignant, frequently moving examination of the futility of war. During World War I, twoFrench airmen are shot down while taking Read More

1937
Le Crime de Monsieur Lange

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Jules Berry, René Lefèvre, Sylvia Bataille

Synopsis: Jean Renoir was the director of The Crime of Monsieur Lange, but this French film might just as well have been made in Hollywood by Frank Capra. The titular Lange (Rene Lefevre) is an author of wild west novels. When the owner of the company that publishes Lange's works absconds with the company Read More

1936
La Vie Est a Nous

Crew: Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Jean Dasté, Julien Bertheau, Jacques Brunius, Max Dalban, Madeleine Sologne, Charles Blavette

Synopsis: Director Jean Renoir returns to the "people of the soil" of his previous Toni in People of France! (originally La Vie est a nous, or A Life for Us). Using a cast of nonprofessionals, Renoir pontificates on the dehumanization of the capitalist system. The film opens as a group of schoolchildren Read More

1936
Les Bas-Fonds

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Jean Gabin, Louis Jouvet, Suzy Prim, Jany Holt, Junie Astor, Vladimir Sokoloff

Synopsis: Voted 1936's best picture by a circle of prestigious French critics, Jean Renoir's The Lower Depths (Les Bas-Fonds) is based on the "gutter" play by Russian author Maxim Gorky. Louis Jouvet plays The Baron, forced by circumstance to give up his life of luxury and to set up residence in the slums Read More

1936
Toni

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Charles Blavette, Celia Montalvan, Jenny Hélia, Edouard Delmont, Max Dalban, Andrex

Synopsis: After completing his successful Madame Bovary (34), director Jean Renoir could have had the pick of France's top "name" actors for his 1935 film Toni, but chose instead to use nonprofessionals. The plot was based on a true story, brought to Renoir's attention by the sheriff of the village where it Read More

1934
Madame Bovary

Crew: Director

Actors: Pierre Renoir, Alice Tissot, Valentine Tessier, Max Dearly, Daniel Lecourtois, Fernand Fabre

Synopsis: When French-filmmaker Jean Renoir offered his 1934 version of Flaubert's Madame Bovary to the distributors, he was compelled to cut it severely. This was not due to the subject matter, but because Renoir's "director's cut" ran nearly 3 and a half hours! Though Renoir steadfastly defended his Read More

1934
Chotard Et Cie

Crew: Director

Actors: Fernand Charpin, Louis Seigner, Jeanne Boitel

1933
Boudu Saved from Drowning

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Michel Simon, Charles Granval, Marcella Hainia, Jean Gehret, Severine Lerczynska

Synopsis: Boudu (played by Michel Simon, who also produced the film) is a shaggy, foul-smelling tramp who is rescued from drowning by bourgeois Frenchman Charles Granval. Deciding to "reform" Boudu, Granval invites the hobo into his home. Boudu returns the favor by turning the household upside down and by Read More

11/11/32
La Nuit Du Carrefour

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Pierre Renoir, Winna Winifred

Synopsis: La Nuit du Carrefour (A Night at the Crossroads) may well be the least known of Jean Renoir's sound films. Adapted from a novel by Georges Simenon, the story concentrates on a gang of thieves who utilize a cross-road garage as the hideaway. During their last caper, the gang has accidentally Read More

1932
L'Enfant Du Miracle

Crew: Composer (Music Score)

Actors: Blanche Montel, Armand Bernard, Marcel Vallee

Synopsis: A play by Paul Gavault and Robert Charvay was the source for L'Enfant du Miracle (Miracle Child). In order to inherit a fortune, widow Blanche Montel must produce the child she claims to have had by her late husband. Of course, there is no such child, but that doesn't stop Montel from seeking out Read More

1932
La Chienne

Crew: Director, Editor, Screenwriter

Actors: Michel Simon, Janie Mareze, Georges Flamant, Magdelaine Berubet, Roger Gaillard, Jean Gehret

Synopsis: Jean Renoir's first sound film was a bitter and highly controversial psychological drama, so controversial that it was never shown in the United States until 1975, 44 years after its original French release. Maurice (Michel Simon) is a meek bank clerk trapped in a marriage with a harridan named Read More

1931
On Purge Bebé

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Michel Simon, Marguerite Pierry

1931
Le Bled

Crew: Director

Actors: Jackie Monnier, Jane Pierson, Enrique Rivero

Synopsis: Le Bled was filmmaker Jean Renoir's last silent production. Henrique Rivero is cast as Pierre Hofer, a personable but impoverished young man. En route to Algeria by steamer to visit his wealthy uncle, Pierre meets the lovely Claudie Duvernet (Jackie Monnier), who is heading to the same destination Read More

1929
Tire Au Flanc

Crew: Director

Actors: Felix Oudart, Michel Simon

1929
Le Petit Chaperon Rouge

Actors: Catherine Hessling, Jean Renoir, Pierre Prevert

1929
La Petite Marchande d'allumettes

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Catherine Hessling

1928
Le Tournoi dans la Cité

Crew: Director

Actors: Aldo Nadi, Jackie Monnier, Enrique Rivero

Synopsis: Tournament (Le Tournoi dans la Citie) was French filmmaker Jean Renoir's next-to-last silent film. Only Le Bled (1929) lay ahead before Renoir's masterful switch to talkies. The film is set during the time of Catherine de Medici and the slaughter of the Huguenots. In this bit of revisionism Read More

1928
Marquitta

Crew: Director

Actors: Simone Cerdan, Jean Angelo, Henri Debain

1927
Sur un air de Charleston

Crew: Director

Actors: Catherine Hessling, Pierre Braunberger, Jean Renoir

Synopsis: French filmmaker Jean Renoir would later remark that he directed the sensual dance fantasy Charleston because he'd "just discovered American jazz." He also had some stock footage left over from his previous silent success Nana, and decided it would be provident to fashion a new film from these Read More

1926
Nana

Crew: Director, Editor, Screenwriter

Actors: Catherine Hessling, Werner Krauss, Jean Angelo

Synopsis: Jean Renoir's second film was this lavishly appointed adaptation of Emile Zola's novel Nana. Renoir does an admirable job retelling Zola's woeful tale of a covetous Parisian slum girl in purely visual terms. Hoping to escape her tawdry surroundings, Nana has an affair with high-ranking government Read More

1926
Fille De L'Eau

Crew: Director, Producer, Set Designer

Actors: Catherine Hessling

Synopsis: Virginia (Catherine Hessling) has to fend for herself after the death of her father. Any money that might have been left for her has been used by her drunken uncle, Jef, (Pierre Lestringuez, also the screenwriter) to buy more booze. After a false start at a new life with some bohemians, she is Read More

1924
Renoir Shorts

Crew: Director

Synopsis: This 50-minute video consists of two silent short subjects directed by French maitre Jean Renoir. The first is La Petite Marchande d'Allumettes, aka The Little Match Girl, a 1927 collaboration between Renoir and Jean Tedesco. An ultra-fanciful adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen Read More

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