Details

Release year: 1939

Storyline

A bourgeois life in France at the onset of World War II, as the rich and their poor servants meet up at a French chateau.

Top credits

Directors

Jean Renoir

Writers

Cast

Marcel Dalio — Robert de la Cheyniest
Nora Gregor — Christine de la Cheyniest
Paulette Dubost — Lisette, sa camériste
Mila Parély — Geneviève de Marras

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Did you know

• After the success of Grand Illusion (1937) and The Human Beast (1938), Jean Renoir and his nephew Claude Renoir set up their own production company, Les Nouvelles Editions Françaises (NEF). This was their first and last production, as the company went into bankruptcy and was dissolved due to the ban of their movie after just three weeks of shows.

• The fact the movie was a complete failure when it came out in 1939 is partly a myth. The Distributor (Gaumont) was uncomfortable with the theme even before the premiere. Attendance was low, but it was summer in Paris. There was turmoil around the movie, conducing to public violent reception of it - whistling, booing, fighting among spectators, one viewer lighting matches to a newspaper trying to burn the theater down, and threats to other theaters. Renoir himself thought it was a complete flop, mainly impressed by a few hostile reactions he saw first hand during the projections. His film was banned, but so were 57 other movies, such as Carné's famous Port of Shadows (1938) and Daybreak (1939). The critical reception was balanced: a study showed about a third were positive, a third negative and a third reserved.

• One of two movies that has generally been in the top 10 of Sight & Sound's recurring poll "The Greatest Films of All Time": #10 (1952), #3 (1962), #2 (1972), #2 (1982), #2 (1992), #3 (2002), #4 (2012). 2022 was the first time it fell out of the top 10, landing at #13. Citizen Kane (1941), the other, was #11 in 1952, though it was #1 from 1962 to 2002. It lost that #1 ranking in 2012 (#2), and 2022 (#3).