A Day in the Country

The great French film director Jean Renoir—son of Impressionist master Pierre-Auguste Renoir—paid tribute to his father's work in this beautiful film. Adapted from a short story by Guy du Maupassant, this delicate little piece centers on a petit-bourgeois Parisian family in the mid-19th century enjoying a weekend escape by the River Seine. When a pair of brash locals (Georges D'Arnoux and Jacques Brunius) set their sights on seducing the giggly wife (Jane Marken) and svelte, comely daughter (Sylvia Bataille) of the easily distracted husband and father (André Gabriello), the mood gradually shifts from lightheartedness to gentle melancholy. Shots of a picnic, women on swings, and couples rowing skiffs up the river, evoke specific paintings by the elder Renoir, while Jean's direction creates characters that are both familiar cultural types and unique individuals. Bataille is especially luminous as the young woman who is expected to marry her father's dull-witted assistant (Paul Temps) but finds more excitement with the amorous country gentleman. Shot in 1936 and considered one of Renoir's minor masterpieces, A Day in the Country was left unfinished due to production delays and other commitments. The film was finally assembled in 1946 by Renoir's collaborators and released with explanatory notes to fill in a couple of un-filmed city scenes, but otherwise feels complete and has been beautifully restored for DVD and its Blu-ray debut, with extras including extensive outtakes, new and archival interviews, and a video essay on Renoir's working methods. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)