A Lovely Movie for Fading Winter Days

Here's a movie suggestion, one I tripped over last night when my book got dull and the satellite dish was covered with snow and refusing reception: "Renoir," a wonderful, atmospheric, leisurely French bio of the painter and his son, the movie-maker. The movie is from Gilles Bourdos.

It is the story of the last days of the painter and his relationship with his son Jean, the great movie director, who was a WWI soldier at the time, 1915. Renoir's last model, who casts a spell over the father and the son, is at the center of this story and it's a really, truly excellent one. The cinematography alone is worth the price of admission and even though the story is slow, it is a visual feast.

I did some looking around on the 'net after I watched the movie and found it to be accurate and revealing. Knew little about either of the Renoirs; now I know a lot. Interesting family. And the model, Andree, is captivating, as she was, I'm sure, in life.