Jean Renoir (1894-1979) is widely regarded as one of the most distinguished directors in the history of world cinema. In the 1930s he directed a string of films which stretched the formal, intellectual, political and aesthetic boundaries of the art form, including works such as Le Crime de Monsieur Lange, La Grande Illusion, La Bête humaine and La Règle du jeu. However, the great director’s early work from the 1920s remains almost completely unknown, even to film specialists. If it is discussed at all, it is often seen to be of interest only insofar as it anticipates themes and techniques perfected in the later masterpieces. Renoir’s films of the 1920s were sometimes unfinished, commercially unsuccessful, or unreleased at the time of their production. This book argues that to regard them merely as prefigurations of later achievements entails a failure to view them on their own terms, as searching, unsettled experiments in the meaning and potential of film art.

Jean Renoir is one of the most important figures in French cinema. This is an eminently accessible and original analysis of all his sound films, including those he made in Hollywood. Bringing new light on some of the director's most celebrated films, this lucid account traces his output from the silent period to the age of television, tying his work into a fast-shifting, socio-historical context. Giving an incisive and illuminating account of critical debates concerning Renoir, and focusing on hitherto neglected areas such as gender, nation and ethnicity the book asks us to rethink our understanding of Renoir's political commitment.

François Truffaut called him, simply, ‘the best’. Jean Renoir is a towering figure in world cinema and fully justifies this monumental survey that includes contributions from leading international film scholars and comprehensively analyzes Renoir’s life and career from numerous critical perspectives. New and original research by the world’s leading English and French language Renoir scholars explores stylistic, cultural and ideological aspects of Renoir’s films as well as key biographical periods Thematic structure admits a range of critical methodologies, from textual analysis to archival research, cultural studies, gender-based and philosophical approaches Features detailed analysis of Renoir’s essential works Provides an international perspective on this key auteur’s enduring significance in world film history

Accessible and original analysis of all Jean Renoir's sound films, including those he made in Hollywood - this is the first major study to appear for a number of years and brings new light on some of the director's most celebrated films.. Illuminating account of critical debates concerning Renoir, and focusing on hitherto neglected areas such as gender, nation and ethnicity the book asks us to rethink our understanding of Renoir's political commitment.. Traces his output from the silent period to the age of television, tying his work into a fast-shifting, socio-historical context.. Detailed analyses of his sound films map his evolving style while individual chapters cover Renoir's career and writings, critical debates, the silent and early sound films, the Popular Front period, Renoir amèricain and the later films.

Collected interviews with one of France's most loved and respected filmmakers

This is a 1990 collection of interviews and essays by the legendary filmmaker Jean Renoir.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1974. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived

This book re-assesses director Jean Renoir’s work between his departure from France in 1940 and his death in 1979, and contributes to the debate over how the medium of film registers the impact of trauma. The 1930s ended in catastrophe for both for Renoir and for France: La Règle du jeu was a critical and commercial disaster on its release in July 1939 and in 1940 France was occupied by Germany. Even so, Renoir continued to innovate and experiment with his post-war work, yet the thirteen films he made between 1941 and 1969, constituting nearly half of his work in sound cinema, have been sorely neglected in the study of his work. With detailed readings of the these films and four novels produced by Renoir in his last four decades, Davis explores the direct and indirect ways in which film, and Renoir’s films in particular, depict the aftermath of violence.

Narrative practice has come under attack in the current "post-truth" era. In fact, many associate "narrative hermeneutics"--the field of inquiry concerned with reflection on the meaning and interpretation of stories--directly with this putative movement beyond truth. Challenging this view, The Use and Abuse of Stories argues that this broad arena of inquiry instead serves as a vitally important vehicle for addressing and redressing the social and political problems at hand. Hanna Meretoja and Mark Freeman have gathered an interdisciplinary group of esteemed authors to explore how interpretation is relevant to current discussions in narrative studies and to the broader debate that revolves around issues of truth, facts, and narrative. The contributions turn to the tradition of narrative hermeneutics to emphasize that narrative is a cultural meaning-making practice that is integral to how we make sense of who we are and who we could be. Addressing topics ranging from the dangers of political narratives to questions of truth in medical and psychiatric practice, this volume shows how narrative hermeneutics contributes to topical debates both in interdisciplinary narrative studies and in the current cultural and political situation in which issues of truth have gained new urgency.

Consider this edition your personal Parisian address directory for the renowned that have historically shaped France and the world. This illustrated guide transports you geographically and photographically to famous residences formerly occupied by historical leaders, noteworthy figures, revolutionaries, famous writers, performers, composers and visual artists. It is your map of the stars within Paris with profiles framing the unique impact and background of the occupants. Known and unknown history, hidden delights and fascinating stories pervade the history of Paris. This kaleidoscope of discovery, personalities, egos, scandals, conflict framed by sheer beauty creates a vivid tapestry defining over two millenniums. You may imagine that you already know Paris, but that view is solely a prism of the whole. Many of the narratives defy believability, yet they are true. This Famous Historic Guide is your alternative to conventional travel. It accommodates the restless visitor, tourist and resident seeking a unique and different perspective to traditional tourism. Paris remains one of the most beguiling, seductive and enchanting cities of the world. Its famed personalities are as statuesque and substantial as its iconic monuments. HISTORICAL FIGURES: Joan of Ark, Nicholas Flamel, Diane de Poitiers, Queen Margot of Navarre, Cardinal Richelieu, Marquises of Montespan and Maintenon, Madame du Barry, Benjamin Franklin, Marquis de Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson, Jacques Necker, Marie Le Normand, Eugene Vidocoq, Duke de Praslin, Napoleon III, La Paiva, Otto von Bismarck, Madame Claude, George Boulanger, Coco Chanel, Francois Mitterrand, Charles Parnell, Jacques Verges. John Adams, Karl Lagerfeld and Samuel de Champlain. BONAPARTE ERA: Napoleon Bonaparte, Desiree Clary, Empress Josephine, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, James Monroe, Pauline Bonaparte, Louis Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington. THINKERS/PHILOSOPHERS/WRITERS: Rene Descartes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, Marquis de Sade, Thomas Paine, Andre Chenier, Honore de Balzac, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Oscar Wilde, Colette, Sylvia Beach, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Alexandre Dumas, Alexis de Tocqueville, Alfred de Musset, Alphonse Daudet, Andre Breton, Andre Malraux, Guillaume Apollinaire, Arthur Rambeau, Blaise Pascal, Charles Baudelaire, Theophile Gautier, Duke of Saint Simon, Ernest Hemingway, Vicomte de Chateaubriand, Ezra Pound, Francoise Sagan, F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Sand, Gertrude Stein, Gustave Flaubert, Heinrich Heine, Ivan Turguenev, James Baldwin, James Joyce, Jean Cocteau, Leo Tolstoy, Jules Verne, Marcel Proust, Stendhal and PERFORMANCE ARTS: Moliere, Pierre Beaumarchais, Gioachino Rossini, Frederick Chopin, Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz, Jacques Offenbach, Sarah Bernhardt, George Bizet, Jean Sibelius, Isadora Duncan, Josephine Baker, Edith Piaf, Jacques Tati, Brigitte Bardot, Francois Truffaut, Jeanne Moreau, Serge Gainsbourg, George Moustaki, Dalida, Alain Delon and Jim Morrison, VISUAL ARTS: Jacques-Louis David, Auguste Rodin, Theo van Gough, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Alfonse Mucha, Amedeo Modigliani, Andre Masson, Constantin Brancusi, Camille Claudel, Edgar Degas, Eugene Delacroix, Jean-Baptiste Corot, Claude Monet, Francis Bacon, Gustave Dore, Gustave Moreau, Henri Matisse, Honore Daumier, Jean Renoir, Joan Miro, Kiki de Montparnasse, Man Ray, Yves Klein, Marc Chagall, Marcel Duchamp and Paul Gauguin, REVOLUTIONARIES: Count Mirabeau, Georges Danton, Camille Desmoulins, Maximilien Robespierre, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Ho Chi Minh and Jean-Paul Marat.