#746: RENOIR, Jean: A Day In The Country (1936)

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RENOIR, Jean (France)
A Day In The Country [1936]
Spine #746
Blu-ray


This bittersweet film from Jean Renoir, based on a story by Guy de Maupassant, is a tenderly comic idyll about a city family's picnic in the French countryside and the romancing of the mother and grown daughter by two local men. Conceived as a short feature, the project had nearly finished production in 1936 when Renoir was called away for The Lower Depths. Shooting was abandoned then, but the film was completed with the existing footage by Renoir's team and released in its current form in 1946, after the director had already moved on to Hollywood. The result is a warmly humanist vignette that ranks among Renoir's most lyrical works, with a love for nature imbuing its every beautiful frame.

41 minutes
Black & White
Monaural
in French
1:37:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2015
Director/Writers


Based on the short story by Guy de Maupassant.

A

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by film scholar Gilberto Perez.

Commentary

None.

Introduction

By director Renoir from 1962.

The Road to “A Day in the Country”

An interview with Renoir scholar Christopher Faulkner about the film’s production.

Renoir at Work

A video essay by Faulkner on Renoir’s methods.

Un tournage à la campagne

An eighty-nine minute 1994 compilation of outtakes from the film.

Interview

Producer Pierre Braunberger from 1979.

Screen tests

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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