''Renoir'' is a 2012 French

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

based on the last years of Pierre-Auguste Renoir at Cagnes-sur-Mer during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The film was directed by Gilles Bourdos and competed in the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. The film is set in the south of France during

and stars

Michel Bouquet Michel Bouquet (6 November 1925 – 13 April 2022) was a French stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1947 to 2020. He won the Best Actor European Film Award for ''Toto the Hero'' in 1991 and two Best Actor Césars for ...

Christa Theret Christa may refer to: * Christa (given name), a female given name * Janusz Christa (1934-2008), Polish comics author * ''Swedish Fly Girls'', a 1971 film also known as ''Christa'' * 1015 Christa, an asteroid See also * Christ (disambiguation) * C ...

, Thomas Doret and

Vincent Rottiers Vincent Rottiers (born 17 June 1986) is a French actor. He has appeared in more than thirty films since 2002. He is the older brother of actor Kévin Azaïs Kévin Azaïs (born 1992) is a French actor. He is best known for his performance ...

.Rendez Vous with French Cinema
''The New York Times'' retrieved 25 March 2013. ''Renoir'' achieved critical and commercial success both in France and abroad, most notably in the United States where it is on the Critic's Pick list of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. The film was selected as the French entry for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the 86th Academy Awards, but was not nominated. In January 2014, the film received four nominations at the

39th César Awards The 39th Annual César Awards ceremony, presented by the French Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques (Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma), was held on 28 February 2014, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. '' Me, Myself and Mum'' re ...

, winning for Best Costume Design.

Plot

The film tells the forgotten story of Andrée Heuschling, also known as Catherine Hessling, who was the last model of impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and the first actress in the films of his son, the film director Jean Renoir. Andrée was the link between two famous and widely acclaimed artists, a father and son. While the father is at the end of his brilliant career, the son is still searching for himself, his great career as one of the most celebrated movie directors having not yet begun. Director Gilles Bourdos used the services of a convicted art forger, Guy Ribes, to create and re-create the Renoir paintings in live action on screen.''The New York Times''
Retrieved 25 March 2013.

Cast

as Auguste Renoir *

Christa Théret Christa Théret (born 25 June 1991) is a French actress, best known for her role of Andrée Heuschling in ''Renoir''. Early life As a child, Théret aspired to be a teacher and then to become an actress. Career Théret's acting career began a ...

as Andrée Heuschling *

as Jean Renoir * Thomas Doret as Coco *

Romane Bohringer Romane Bohringer (; born 14 August 1973) is a French actress, film director, screenwriter, and costume designer. She is the daughter of Richard Bohringer and sister of Lou Bohringer. Her parents named her after Roman Polanski. She won the Cé ...

as Gabrielle Renard * Michèle Gleizer as Mme Renoir (Aline Charigot) * Carlo Brandt as Le docteur Pratt * Hélène Babu as Odette * Marion Lécrivain as Véra Sergine * Hervé Briaux as Ambroise Vollard * Stuart Seide as le docteur Barnes * Emmanuelle Lepoutre as la Médecine * Thierry Hancisse as le brocanteur * Annelise Heimburger as la Boulangère * Sylviane Goudal as la Grande Louise * Solène Rigot as Madeleine

Reception

The film received generally favorable reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported 72% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 69 reviews, with an average score of 6.5/10. The critical consensus is: "Appropriately enough, ''Renoir'' offers viewers a drama of sumptuous beauty—which is more than enough to offset its frustratingly slow pace and rather thinly written screenplay." Metacritic, which assigns a standardized score out of 100, rated the film 64 based on 23 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

References

External links

* (in French) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Renoir 2012 films 2012 drama films 2010s historical drama films 2012 biographical drama films 2010s French-language films French historical drama films French biographical drama films Biographical films about painters Cultural depictions of Pierre-Auguste Renoir Films set on the French home front during World War I Films shot in France Films directed by Gilles Bourdos Films scored by Alexandre Desplat 2010s French films