Renoir

France

Historical drama set in 1915. The aging painter gets a new muse and conflicts with his soldier son Jean over the latter's plan to return to fight in WW1 after recovering from an injury.

The muse/model...played by Christa Theret in the role of a lifetime...stirs problems in the household with her seductive manner and free-spirited ways. But she inspires the great painter to produce work after work in his twilight years.

Of necessity the film is sumptuously photographed in Provence...shimmering washes of color, stunning rural landscapes, maids/nudes in many carefully composed frames... The drama is a bit slow, the look a tad over-cooked, a little too perfect, but the film ends with the revelation that Jean went on to become the great French filmmaker who produced such masterworks as La Grand Illusion and The River.

6