Jean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s. As an author, he wrote the definitive biography of his father, the painter, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Renoir, My Father (1962).
During the 1930s Renoir enjoyed great success as a filmmaker. In 1931 he directed his first sound films, On purge bébé and La Chienne (The Bitch). The following year he made Boudu Saved From Drowning (Boudu sauvé des eaux), a farcical sendup of the pretensions of a middle-class bookseller and his family, who meet with comic, and ultimately disastrous, results when they attempt to reform a vagrant played by Michel Simon.
By the middle of the decade Renoir was associated with the Popular Front, and several of his films, such as The Crime of Monsieur Lange (Le Crime de Monsieur Lange, 1935), La Vie Est a Nous (People of France) (1936) and La Marseillaise (1938), reflect the movement’s politics. In 1937 he made one of his most well-known films, Grand Illusion (La Grande Illusion), starring Erich von Stroheim and the immensely popular Jean Gabin. A film on the theme of brotherhood about a series of escape attempts by French POWs during World War I, it was enormously successful but was also banned in Germany, and later in Italy after having won the “Best Artistic Ensemble” award at the Venice Film Festival. This was followed by another cinematic success: The Human Beast (La Bête Humaine) (1938), a film noir tragedy based on the novel by Émile Zola and starring Simone Simon and Jean Gabin.
Jean Renoir Biography / Wiki
| Name | Jean Renoir |
| Also Know | 장 르누아르, ジャン・ルノワール |
| Gender | Male |
| Known For | Directing |
| Place of Birth | Paris, France |
| Date of Birth | 1894-09-15 |
| Age(as in 2022) | 84 |
| Deathday | 1979-02-12 |
Jean Renoir Acting Movies
| Movie Name | Character | Release Date | Overview |
| Louis Lumière | Self | 1968-01-01 | Eric Rohmer leads a conversation with Jean Renoir and Henri Langlois on the art of filmmaker Louis Lumière…. |
| Directing Actors by Jean Renoir | 1969-09-14 | A example of Jean Renoir’s talents as a director as he works Gisèle Braunberger into the right frame of mind…. | |
| Un tournage à la campagne | 1994-08-10 | Edited from 4½ hours of unused material left over from the shooting of Jean Renoir’s 1936 PARTIE DE CAMPAGNE (A Day in the Country) and donated by th… | |
| Jean Renoir le patron, 2e partie: La direction d’acteur | Self – Interviewee | 1967-01-01 | Second in the documentary trilogy from mastermind Jacques Rivette, featuring a conversation between Jean Renoir and Michel Simon… |
| L’album de famille de Jean Renoir | Himself | 1956-05-24 | … |
| Quand Jean devint Renoir | Self (archive footage) | 2017-04-30 | The fascinating story of a man destined to be only a son of and who sought all his life to become “someone” by getting rid of the overwhelming image o… |
| La P’tite Lili | 1927-10-01 | Le P’tite Lili is a short film directed by Alberto Cavalcanti in 1927. This is a visual illustration of a song, The Lady of gravel and Benech Lilie, w… | |
| Little Red Riding Hood | Compère le Loup | 1930-05-14 | This is 1929: the little red riding hood is still with us and her life is more complicated than ever. She still has to go through the forest and she o… |
| Langlois | Self | 1970-09-19 | Documentary portrait of Henri Langlois, co-founder of the Cinémathèque Française…. |
| Jean Renoir parle de son art | Interviewee | 1961-11-11 | Three-part interview with French film director Jean Renoir, conducted by French New Wave director Jacques Rivette…. |
| François Truffaut l’insoumis | Self (archive footage) | 2014-11-02 | This portrait of the world-famous French director based on his personal correspondance reveals the little known insurgent side of his personnality. Fe… |
| Charleston Parade | Angel | 1927-03-19 | Shot in three days, this surreal, erotic silent short shows a native white girl teaching a futuristic African airman the Charleston dance…. |
| Jean Renoir le patron: La règle et l’exception | Self | 1969-01-01 | In the third part of a Cinéastes triptych on Jean Renoir, the director sits alone in a cinema analyzing scenes from La Marseillaise and The Rules of … |
| The Pursuit of Happiness | 1930-05-26 | … | |
| Cinéastes de notre temps: Erich von Stroheim | Self | 2012-10-14 | … |
| Le Parti du cinéma | Self (voice) (archive footage) | 2021-02-01 | … |
| A Day in the Country | Père Poulain | 1946-09-21 | The family of a Parisian shop-owner spends a day in the country. The daughter falls in love with a man at the inn, where they spend the day…. |
| D’un Céline l’autre | 1969-05-08 | Passers-by, those who knew him in his youth, René Barjavel, witness of his beginnings, his wife, his doctor, writers … By questioning them Michel P… | |
| The Spanish Earth | Narrator (voice) | 1937-07-10 | A propaganda film made during the Spanish Civil War in support of the Republican government against the rebellion by Gen. Francisco Franco’s forces wh… |
| The Christian Licorice Store | Self | 1971-11-01 | A tennis champ falls in with the Hollywood crowd, finds himself being corrupted by the life in the fast lane…. |
| Life Is Ours | Le patron du bistrot | 1936-04-07 | A propaganda film of the communist party of France, showing how the comrades help the proletariat against the capitalists…. |
| The Rules of the Game | Octave | 1939-07-09 | A weekend at a marquis’ country château lays bare some ugly truths about a group of haut bourgeois acquaintances…. |
| Those of Our Land | Self | 1915-11-22 | With family connections to some famous French artists, writers, and musicians of the time, Sacha Guitry decided to film the individuals in action, to … |
| La Bête Humaine | Cabuche | 1938-12-23 | On board a train bound for the port city of Le Havre, France, railroad stationmaster Roubard murders Grandmorin, who seduced his beautiful young wife,… |
| The Emma Bovary Trial | Self – Filmmaker (archive footage) | 2021-09-15 | On January 31, 1857, the French writer Gustave Flaubert (1821-80) took his place in the dock for contempt of public morality and religion. The accused… |
| Mam’zelle Nitouche | 1931-12-04 | Célestin, the organist of a convent, has written and composed a light operetta under the name of Floridor. One day, the Mother Superior asks him to c… | |
| Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words | Self (archive footage) (uncredited) | 2015-08-27 | A personal portrait of mythical and controversial actress Ingrid Bergman based on her many home movies and diaries…. |
Jean Renoir Directing Movies
| Movie Name | Job | Release Date | Overview |
| The Rules of the Game | Director | 1939-07-09 | A weekend at a marquis’ country château lays bare some ugly truths about a group of haut bourgeois acquaintances…. |
| Grand Illusion | Director | 1937-06-04 | A group of French soldiers, including the patrician Captain de Boeldieu and the working-class Lieutenant Maréchal, grapple with their own class diffe… |
| The Doctor’s Horrible Experiment | Director | 1959-01-01 | Dr. Cordelier, living in a suburb of Paris, withdraws from society to pursue research into the functioning of the human brain. His lifelong friend, Ma… |
| La Chienne | Director | 1931-11-20 | Cashier Maurice Legrand is married to Adele, a terror. By chance, he meets Lucienne, “Lulu”, and make her his mistress. He thinks he finally met love,… |
| The Little Match Girl | Director | 1928-06-07 | On a cold New Year’s Eve, a poor girl tries to sell matches in the street. She is freezing badly, but she is afraid to go home because her father will… |
| La Bête Humaine | Director | 1938-12-23 | On board a train bound for the port city of Le Havre, France, railroad stationmaster Roubard murders Grandmorin, who seduced his beautiful young wife,… |
| The Woman on the Beach | Director | 1947-06-07 | A Coast Guardsman suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress becomes involved with a beautiful and enigmatic seductress married to a blind painter…. |
| The Elusive Corporal | Director | 1962-05-23 | The story serves as a companion piece to Renoir’s 1937 film, Grand Illusion, once more bringing together men from across the broad social spectrum of … |
| Picnic on the Grass | Director | 1959-11-11 | Etienne Alexis, a candidate for president of the new Europe, is a scientist promoting artificial insemination for social betterment and therapy to eli… |
| Madame Bovary | Director | 1934-01-04 | Soon after the death of his first wife (whose dowry was inadequate), Charles Bovary, a country doctor in Normandy, marries Emma Rouault. In her new ho… |
| A Day in the Country | Director | 1946-09-21 | The family of a Parisian shop-owner spends a day in the country. The daughter falls in love with a man at the inn, where they spend the day…. |
| The Diary of a Chambermaid | Director | 1946-02-15 | Celestine, the chamber-maid, has a new job in the country, at the Lanlaires. She has decided to use her beauty to seduce a wealthy man, but Mr. Lanlai… |
| The Southerner | Director | 1945-04-30 | Sam Tucker, a cotton picker, in search of a better future for his family, decides to grow his own cotton crop. In the first year, the Tuckers battle d… |
| This Land Is Mine | Director | 1943-05-07 | Somewhere in Europe, in a city occupied by the Nazis, a gentle school teacher finds himself torn between collaboration and resistance, cowardice and c… |
| Swamp Water | Director | 1941-11-16 | A hunter happens upon a fugitive and his daughter living in a Georgia swamp. He falls in love with the girl and persuades the fugitive to return to to… |
| French Cancan | Director | 1955-04-27 | Nineteenth-century Paris comes vibrantly alive in Jean Renoir’s exhilarating tale of the opening of the world-renowned Moulin Rouge. Jean Gabin play… |
| The River | Director | 1951-09-10 | Director Jean Renoir’s entrancing first color feature—shot entirely on location in India—is a visual tour de force. Based on the novel by Rumer … |
| Life Is Ours | Director | 1936-04-07 | A propaganda film of the communist party of France, showing how the comrades help the proletariat against the capitalists…. |
| The Lower Depths | Director | 1936-12-11 | Inhabitants of a flophouse struggle to survive under the harsh treatment imposed by the landlord, Kostyleva. One resident, young thief Wasska Pepel, e… |
| Nana | Director | 1926-06-25 | A government official, Count Muffat, falls under the spell of Nana, a young actress. She becomes his mistress, living in the sumptuous apartment which… |
| Boudu Saved from Drowning | Director | 1932-11-11 | Michel Simon gives one of the most memorable performances in screen history as Boudu, a Parisian tramp who takes a suicidal plunge into the Seine and … |
| The Sad Sack | Director | 1928-07-18 | The tale of a rich, flaky poet and his servant who both join the army and wind up in the same barracks…. |
| Toni | Director | 1935-02-22 | In the 1920s, the Provence is a magnet for immigrants seeking work in the quarries or in the agriculture. Many mingle with locals and settle down perm… |
| Elena and Her Men | Director | 1956-09-12 | Set amid the military maneuvers and Quatorze Juillet carnivals of turn-of-the-century France, Jean Renoir’s delirious romantic comedy Elena and her … |
| Night at the Crossroads | Director | 1932-04-18 | A gang of thieves utilize a cross-road garage as their hideaway; after accidentally murdering a jewel thief, the heat is on…. |
| The Golden Coach | Director | 1952-12-05 | A viceroy, a nobleman and a bullfighter court a comedy-troupe actress in 16th-century Peru…. |
| Charleston Parade | Director | 1927-03-19 | Shot in three days, this surreal, erotic silent short shows a native white girl teaching a futuristic African airman the Charleston dance…. |
| The Tournament | Director | 1929-02-18 | Rival knights compete for the hand of a beautiful maiden in this period feature from Jean Renoir, unfortunately only available in truncated form…. |
| Le Bled | Director | 1929-05-17 | An Algerian adventure with intrigue, romance, action and falcons…. |
| Baby’s Laxative | Director | 1931-06-21 | A little boy won’t go to the bathroom, which leads to all sorts of complications for his parents and their friends…. |
| Whirlpool of Fate | Director | 1925-03-20 | Jean Renoir’s directional debut and first silent film stars his wife, Catherine Hessling, as a young girl who manages to turn her tragic family life i… |
| Backbiters | Director | 1924-12-01 | Interesting first (silent) movie from Renoir he realized so his wife could have the leading role of Catherine. The movie became an object of quarrel b… |
| The Little Theatre of Jean Renoir | Director | 1974-05-02 | Part One, “The Last Christmas Dinner,” is about the relationship between an old man and an old woman, both homeless. Part Two, “The Electric Floor Pol… |
| Salute to France | Director | 1944-01-02 | Directed by Garson Kanin and Jean Renoir…. |
| A Bum Deal | Director | 1935-01-01 | In 1932, Michel Simon plays in “Boudu sauvé des eaux” under the direction of Jean Renoir.Three years later, he was again invited to don the clothes o… |
| Marquitta | Director | 1927-08-12 | The tumultuous relationship between a street singer and a prince…. |
| Chotard et Cie | Director | 1933-06-22 | François Chotard, wholesale grocer, gives his daughter in marriage to Julien Collinet, a writer who prefers dreaming to working, a situation conduciv… |
| La Marseillaise | Director | 1938-02-10 | A film about the early part of the French Revolution, shown from the eyes of the citizens of Marseille, counts in German exile and, of course, the kin… |
| The Crime of Monsieur Lange | Director | 1936-01-24 | A man and a woman arrive in a cafe-hotel near the Belgian frontier. The customers recognize the man from the police’s description: his name is Amedee … |
| The Ways of Love | Director | 1950-12-13 | Anthology film by three directors, “A Day in the Country”, “Jofroi” and “The Miracle”…. |
| Tosca | Co-Director | 1941-01-31 | … |
| The Amazing Mrs. Holliday | Co-Director | 1943-02-19 | A missionary tries to outwit the U.S. government and smuggle Chinese orphans into the country…. |
Jean Renoir Production Movies
| Movie Name | Job | Release Date | Overview |
| The Doctor’s Horrible Experiment | Producer | 1959-01-01 | Dr. Cordelier, living in a suburb of Paris, withdraws from society to pursue research into the functioning of the human brain. His lifelong friend, Ma… |
| Little Red Riding Hood | Producer | 1930-05-14 | This is 1929: the little red riding hood is still with us and her life is more complicated than ever. She still has to go through the forest and she o… |
| Whirlpool of Fate | Producer | 1925-03-20 | Jean Renoir’s directional debut and first silent film stars his wife, Catherine Hessling, as a young girl who manages to turn her tragic family life i… |
| This Land Is Mine | Producer | 1943-05-07 | Somewhere in Europe, in a city occupied by the Nazis, a gentle school teacher finds himself torn between collaboration and resistance, cowardice and c… |
| Nana | Producer | 1926-06-25 | A government official, Count Muffat, falls under the spell of Nana, a young actress. She becomes his mistress, living in the sumptuous apartment which… |
| The Rules of the Game | Producer | 1939-07-09 | A weekend at a marquis’ country château lays bare some ugly truths about a group of haut bourgeois acquaintances…. |
| Backbiters | Producer | 1924-12-01 | Interesting first (silent) movie from Renoir he realized so his wife could have the leading role of Catherine. The movie became an object of quarrel b… |
| La Marseillaise | Producer | 1938-02-10 | A film about the early part of the French Revolution, shown from the eyes of the citizens of Marseille, counts in German exile and, of course, the kin… |
Writing
| Movie Name | Job | Release Date | Overview |
| Grand Illusion | Screenplay | 1937-06-04 | A group of French soldiers, including the patrician Captain de Boeldieu and the working-class Lieutenant Maréchal, grapple with their own class diffe… |
| The Rules of the Game | Screenplay | 1939-07-09 | A weekend at a marquis’ country château lays bare some ugly truths about a group of haut bourgeois acquaintances…. |
| The Doctor’s Horrible Experiment | Screenplay | 1959-01-01 | Dr. Cordelier, living in a suburb of Paris, withdraws from society to pursue research into the functioning of the human brain. His lifelong friend, Ma… |
| La Bête Humaine | Writer | 1938-12-23 | On board a train bound for the port city of Le Havre, France, railroad stationmaster Roubard murders Grandmorin, who seduced his beautiful young wife,… |
| The Woman on the Beach | Screenplay | 1947-06-07 | A Coast Guardsman suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress becomes involved with a beautiful and enigmatic seductress married to a blind painter…. |
| The River | Screenplay | 1951-09-10 | Director Jean Renoir’s entrancing first color feature—shot entirely on location in India—is a visual tour de force. Based on the novel by Rumer … |
| French Cancan | Adaptation | 1955-04-27 | Nineteenth-century Paris comes vibrantly alive in Jean Renoir’s exhilarating tale of the opening of the world-renowned Moulin Rouge. Jean Gabin play… |
| The Southerner | Writer | 1945-04-30 | Sam Tucker, a cotton picker, in search of a better future for his family, decides to grow his own cotton crop. In the first year, the Tuckers battle d… |
| Toni | Author | 1935-02-22 | In the 1920s, the Provence is a magnet for immigrants seeking work in the quarries or in the agriculture. Many mingle with locals and settle down perm… |
| The Tournament | Adaptation | 1929-02-18 | Rival knights compete for the hand of a beautiful maiden in this period feature from Jean Renoir, unfortunately only available in truncated form…. |
| Baby’s Laxative | Writer | 1931-06-21 | A little boy won’t go to the bathroom, which leads to all sorts of complications for his parents and their friends…. |
| The Little Theatre of Jean Renoir | Writer | 1974-05-02 | Part One, “The Last Christmas Dinner,” is about the relationship between an old man and an old woman, both homeless. Part Two, “The Electric Floor Pol… |
| Elena and Her Men | Writer | 1956-09-12 | Set amid the military maneuvers and Quatorze Juillet carnivals of turn-of-the-century France, Jean Renoir’s delirious romantic comedy Elena and her … |
| A Day in the Country | Writer | 1946-09-21 | The family of a Parisian shop-owner spends a day in the country. The daughter falls in love with a man at the inn, where they spend the day…. |
| Little Red Riding Hood | Writer | 1930-05-14 | This is 1929: the little red riding hood is still with us and her life is more complicated than ever. She still has to go through the forest and she o… |
| The Golden Coach | Screenplay | 1952-12-05 | A viceroy, a nobleman and a bullfighter court a comedy-troupe actress in 16th-century Peru…. |
| French Cancan | Writer | 1955-04-27 | Nineteenth-century Paris comes vibrantly alive in Jean Renoir’s exhilarating tale of the opening of the world-renowned Moulin Rouge. Jean Gabin play… |
| Marquitta | Adaptation | 1927-08-12 | The tumultuous relationship between a street singer and a prince…. |
| The Lower Depths | Writer | 1936-12-11 | Inhabitants of a flophouse struggle to survive under the harsh treatment imposed by the landlord, Kostyleva. One resident, young thief Wasska Pepel, e… |
| This Land Is Mine | Screenplay | 1943-05-07 | Somewhere in Europe, in a city occupied by the Nazis, a gentle school teacher finds himself torn between collaboration and resistance, cowardice and c… |
| Picnic on the Grass | Screenplay | 1959-11-11 | Etienne Alexis, a candidate for president of the new Europe, is a scientist promoting artificial insemination for social betterment and therapy to eli… |
| Chotard et Cie | Writer | 1933-06-22 | François Chotard, wholesale grocer, gives his daughter in marriage to Julien Collinet, a writer who prefers dreaming to working, a situation conduciv… |
| Boudu Saved from Drowning | Screenplay | 1932-11-11 | Michel Simon gives one of the most memorable performances in screen history as Boudu, a Parisian tramp who takes a suicidal plunge into the Seine and … |
| The Little Match Girl | Writer | 1928-06-07 | On a cold New Year’s Eve, a poor girl tries to sell matches in the street. She is freezing badly, but she is afraid to go home because her father will… |
| The Sad Sack | Writer | 1928-07-18 | The tale of a rich, flaky poet and his servant who both join the army and wind up in the same barracks…. |
| La Marseillaise | Writer | 1938-02-10 | A film about the early part of the French Revolution, shown from the eyes of the citizens of Marseille, counts in German exile and, of course, the kin… |
| Carola | Writer | 1973-02-06 | Norman Lloyd directed this televised production of Jean Renoir’s World War II-era play. Taking place backstage at a theatrical performance in Nazi-occ… |
| Cristobal’s Gold | Dialogue | 1940-04-22 | Dupuy, the first officer of the Cristobal, a French merchant ship, is informed by cabaret dancer La Rubia that the Cristobal carries a priceless secre… |
| Madame Bovary | Screenplay | 1934-01-04 | Soon after the death of his first wife (whose dowry was inadequate), Charles Bovary, a country doctor in Normandy, marries Emma Rouault. In her new ho… |
| The Elusive Corporal | Writer | 1962-05-23 | The story serves as a companion piece to Renoir’s 1937 film, Grand Illusion, once more bringing together men from across the broad social spectrum of … |
| Night at the Crossroads | Screenplay | 1932-04-18 | A gang of thieves utilize a cross-road garage as their hideaway; after accidentally murdering a jewel thief, the heat is on…. |
| Backbiters | Screenplay | 1924-12-01 | Interesting first (silent) movie from Renoir he realized so his wife could have the leading role of Catherine. The movie became an object of quarrel b… |
| Life Is Ours | Writer | 1936-04-07 | A propaganda film of the communist party of France, showing how the comrades help the proletariat against the capitalists…. |
| The Crime of Monsieur Lange | Screenplay | 1936-01-24 | A man and a woman arrive in a cafe-hotel near the Belgian frontier. The customers recognize the man from the police’s description: his name is Amedee … |
| La Chienne | Screenplay | 1931-11-20 | Cashier Maurice Legrand is married to Adele, a terror. By chance, he meets Lucienne, “Lulu”, and make her his mistress. He thinks he finally met love,… |
Other Info
| Movie Name | Job | Release Date | Overview |
| Whirlpool of Fate | Set Decoration | 1925-03-20 | Jean Renoir’s directional debut and first silent film stars his wife, Catherine Hessling, as a young girl who manages to turn her tragic family life i… |
| Nana | Editor | 1926-06-25 | A government official, Count Muffat, falls under the spell of Nana, a young actress. She becomes his mistress, living in the sumptuous apartment which… |
| Backbiters | Editor | 1924-12-01 | Interesting first (silent) movie from Renoir he realized so his wife could have the leading role of Catherine. The movie became an object of quarrel b… |
Credit: TMDB
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