PARTIE DE CAMPAGNE (1936)

Cast

Plot

After Renoir's reluctant addition of a couple of titles to satisfy the producers desire to expand to feature length, this masterpiece was finally released in 1946. On an idyllic country picnic, a young girl briefly leaves her family and fiance and succumbs to an all-too-brief romance. The careful reconstruction of period (around 1860) is enhanced by a typically touching generosity towards the characters and an aching, poignant sense of love lost, but never forgotten. And, as always in Renoir, the river is far, far more than just a picturesque stretch of water. It may be only a featurette, but this adaptation of a Maupassant story is rich in poetry and thematic content, it's witty and it's sensuous. It's pure magic.