Jean Renoir: An Interview

by Jean Renoir

An Interview represents the last public appearance and some of the last living statements on his films of the great French film director, Jean Renoir. In 1975, Renoir agreed to be interviewed by James Blue, James Silke, and others at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. In this revealing interview Renoir speaks about his relationship with the industry, actors, and his major films, including Grand Illusion, Boudu Saved from Drowning, The River , and Rules of the Game. An Interview is an important document for anyone interested in the history of film in the 20th century, and a touching testament to one of the world’s greatest directors.

91 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1997

About the author

Jean Renoir (September 15, 1894 - February 12, 1979) was a film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author.

He was the second son of Aline Charigot and the French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Jean was also the brother of Pierre Renoir, a noted French stage and film actor; the uncle of Claude Renoir, a cinematographer; and the father of Alain Renoir, late professor emeritus of comparative literature at the University of California at Berkeley.

As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s. As an author, he wrote the definitive biography of his father, Renoir, My Father (1962).

Reviews

[Hogfather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Renoir is not a great public speaker. He has a broken train of thought, and cannot speak two contiguous sentences that make a single point. However, he is a very wise man. His personal history and his mastery of filmmaking makes him an invaluable source. Most interesting is the point he makes about great films, which is that they are in a sense incomplete, leaving space for the audience to connect to the work and interpret it.