A Dossier on Jean Renoir: His Art and Aesthetics - Article Example

A Dossier on Jean Renoir: His Art and Aesthetics In the three following articles, I wish to present a comprehensive examination of the art and aesthetics of Jean Renoir, the legendary French filmmaker whose assays into the impressionistic modes of life and subtle analysis of characters still stand as iconic elements in film history and theory. I will, in particular, refer to two of his works: Toni (1935) and The Human Beast (1938). Following his father’s artistic footsteps, he evolved and adapted the impressionism that Pierre-Auguste Renoir1 had explored in his painting to the silver screen. Jean Renoir: A Study of the 1930s Filmography and Aesthetics Consistently lauded as the most “authentically French” among all his great contemporaries, he is a proud product of the Golden Era of French cinema. (Lanzoni 2005) A comparison between Carne and Renoir helps us to capture fully a sense of his aesthetics. While Michael Carne developed his hand at cinema at the safe bustle of the studio, Renoir began to refine, readapt and shape his skills of cinematography at the various locations of shooting. Renoir’s esthetic expertise extends over all genres of contemporary cinema. The third decade of the 20th century saw him reach the zenith of his artistic excellence. He produced works on varied generic strains of the film noir as well as realistic cinema. Among acerbic, biting satiric comedies, we have Le Chienne (The Bitch, 1931); Madam Bovary (1933), A Day in the Country (Une Partie de Campagne, 1936, released 1946) and his famous work The Human Beast (1938) are Renoir’s successful ventures into literary adaptation are interpretation. Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932), on the other hand, is a lighthearted and entertaining cinematic improvisation of sorts. Among his other notable works, Toni (1935) is a meaningful social contract along with the war satire Le Grande Illusion (Grand Illusion, 1937), the political manifestos La Marseillais (1937) and The Crime of Monsieur Lange and satiric social commentary in the 1939 movie The Rules of the Game. (Lanzoni 2005) Renoir had always distinguished between the inner and outer realism, as evident from his interviews. (Durgnat 1974) Inner realism, according to him expressed the deep-felt instincts and fantasies of one’s own self while the outer realism depended mostly on the physical locations and activities within the film sets. The photography of the surrounding geographical setting and the trope of amateur acting2 also exerted an important influence on Renoir’s cinematic arts. With his intellectual background and wide knowledge on art and literature, Renoir used inter-textual references about Chaplin, Zola and Marivaux in the application as well as explication of his aesthetics. Toni (1935): Aestheticism and Social Commentary The 1930s were turbulent years. One of the most fateful decades in the history of the world, it saw economic and political upheavals that changed the course of humanity. Many of Renoir’s films encapsulated this prevailing sense of doubt in the poverty-stricken, war-torn world of the 30s, through an eclectic approach that spanned both silent and sound cinema, ranging from social critique to pure satire. (Lanzoni 2005) Given the turbulent political conditions of the mid years of the 1930s, Toni (1935) holds a special position in the coterie of Renoir’s films. Adapting to the tricky technical and artistic transitional dynamics of the cinema, as the world shifted from the silent era to the talkies, Renoir found a liberating sense of openness and communicative harmony in his sound films. (Lanzoni 2005) Toni, illustrates with particular sensitivity and brilliance the diverse nature of this proficient filmmaker. As pointed out in the previous articles, Renoir’s overemphasis on aesthetics of the cinematic art was legendary. In Toni, as well, the textural sensuality and vision of the artist prevails over the grim subject matter at the heart of the film. Toni, envisions Renoir’s early artistic assays. Produced by Pierre Gaut and starring Charles Blavette, Celia Montalvan and Edouard Delmont, the film is set in southern France, and tells the story of an Italian immigrant (Charles Blavette) who falls in love with a young Spanish woman (Celia Montalvan). However, as the generic trope of social commentary suggests, in a war-torn age of mistrust and betrayal the outcome of love can only be tragic. The hero is trapped in a false murder accusation actually committed by the woman he loves, and, failing to provide proof of his innocence, he is ultimately killed. (Lanzoni 2005) However, various claims have been forwarded by film critics on the apparent lack of cohesion to generic expectations in Toni. In particular, critics have noted the lack of a strain of authentic social commentary and relevant political discourse, causing an unfortunate departure in mode and style of expression. Nevertheless, it must be noted, Toni remains an iconic film in that it exhibits some of the earliest instances of Renoir’s innovative experiments with space and spatial exploration through the camera eye, Movement in world cinema (Barattoni 2012).. If we analyzed the particular scene of the movie Toni, where there was a lone individual in a boat on a sea, we can compare this with the famous painting of Winslow Homer of 1899, which known as The Gulf Stream. Homer’s The Gulf Stream portrayed a well-defined fishing boat, which is small, rudderless, and without a flagpole, in a very violent scene and sky. The man was alone on the boat. If we analyzed the painting, there was a clear reference of to visual realism depicted in the painting, because as Homer separates the good from evil, he also joins them. The helpless man in between the sea seems to be at peace, where as the sharks around the boat were not disturbing him. This portrayed Homer’s hope to somehow change the elements of the world friendly and nothing to fear about across, as much as elements of the world could be feared as the enemy. Other symbolic elements suggested in the painting refer to a funeral. The ebony cross the viewer sees in the bow of the boat, may symbolize prophesy death. If we compared this to that of the scene of the movie, there was a distinct similarities in the approach with which the scene was shoot. A lone individual on the boat in between the sea demonstrated the loneliness of that individual who was destroyed by the incidents happened all around him. The major difference though, that the painting represented the differences the differences between good and evil as the individual was not worried about the presence of shark around him in middle of the sea. But in the movie, the scene was a clear representation of defeat accepted by the individual. Another work that can be compared with the last scene of the movie, where the lady died on her lovers arm was with the famous oil painting of John William Waterhouse, “The Lady of Shallot (1888)”. The painting was based on a famous poem, which was written by Alfred Tennyson. The painting clearly represented the feeling of tension between love and death, union and separation. The Lady has given up everything, even her life, for love, and when at the end she finally was able to meets her love, her life was over. The similarity that we can found in this case is with the last scene of the movie, where the lady died in the arm of her lover, who loves her for anything. Like the painting, here also they were not able to stay happily together as they were separated from each other by death. The love was pure, but unfortunately like the painting the ending could not have been happy. The background as well as the end result which was shown in the movie and background of this famous painting was absolutely same only the change we may say was in the characteristics. In the movie, the man, who love the woman blindly was not able to get her finally as she was died, but in case of the painting the lady, who loves the man blindly and for everything when finally able to meet him, her life was not with her. So, we may conclude by saying that the deaths in both the cases were in between meeting of two lovers, but their love not died, which remain alive for ever. The Human Beast: Renoir’s Aesthetic Interpretation The urban vitality of direction and Renoir’s intellectual interpretation of Emile Zola’s homonymous novel reproduces innovatively the “murky biologism” of the literary text with extraordinary finesse and aesthetic perception in The Human Beast (1938). (Barattoni 2012) Renoir who was by then a legendary exponent of the militant style of filmmaking, took a decided step towards an intellectual pessimism, most directly notable in Michael Carne. (Lanzoni 2005) Starring Jean Gabin, The Human Beast is a story of lust, passion, adultery, semi-incest and intrigue, a murder thriller that shocks with its manic outbursts of homicidal violence. The shaky and disjointed camera movements mirror the simmering tension of the story. A sense of dread is intentionally bred through strategic camera shots. The film is remarkable for its brilliant poetic realism. Though deeply criticized in the pre- Second World War era for his complex and often, confused, political sympathies, The Human Beast shows a maturing of Renoir’s creative as well as personal ideologies and interpretive skills. The violence of the world is mirrored in the protagonist’s depressive and passive-aggressive nature produced from generations of alcoholism. (Barattoni 2012) The social scientific discourse generated by Zola in the novel is taken up and expanded upon by Renoir. He is the ultimate cultural man, who believed that reality contained in hidden forms substantial richness and elusiveness that only art can capture and encapsulate. Art, according to Renoir, did not create beauty but reveals and enhances that which is omnipresent in life. (Durgnat 1974) If we want to critically analyzed a particular movie scenario with that of a famous artistic work then there is none better than compared the famous kissing scene of this movie with that of famous statue by Auguste Rodin. The main theme of his work was the well known and passionate love of Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta (1899). If we analyze the statue then it is very clear that the statue demonstrate a clear symbol of love among the couple. There was the clear indication, delight and happiness was there throughout their appearance in kissing each other which not only suggested that they were happy but also demonstrated the closeness and love that they have for each other. There was no difference in the concept or the inbuilt meaning of the kissing scene which was shown in this movie with that of this famous sculpture. Both represent the symbol of love, happiness. But the context in which it was used in movie was a bit difference as the movie was known for lust, passion, adultery, semi-incest and intrigue, a murder thriller that shocks with its manic outbursts of homicidal violence, and the scene was there to demonstrate all these aspects. References 1. Barattoni, Luca. 2012. Italian Post-Neorealist Cinema. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Universit Press. 2. Homer, Winslow, The Gulf Stream, 1899; The Archive; retrieved on 31.10.2013 from http://www.artchive.com/artchive/h/homer/gulf_stream.jpg.html 3. Durgnat, Raymond. 1974. Jean Renoir. Los Angeles: University Press of California. 4. Lanzoni, Remi Fournier. 2005. French Cinema: From its Beginnings to the Present. New York: Continuum Publishing Group. 5. The Kiss – Sculpture by Francois Auguste Rodin; 10 famous kisses in history; retrieved on 31.10.2013 from http://www.indiatvnews.com/lifestyle/news/how-to-kiss-famous-kisses-of-all-time-11.html?page=5. 6. The Lady of Shallot by Alfred Tennyson; retrieved on 31.10.2013, from http://www.pathguy.com/shalott.htm Read More