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| A DAY IN THE COUNTRY (PARTIE DE
CAMPAGNE) (director/writer:
Jean Renoir; screenwriter: based on a story by Guy de
Maupassant; cinematographers: Claude
Renoir/Jean Bourgoin; editor: Marinette Cadix; music:
Joseph Kosma; cast: Sylvia Bataille (Henriette Dufour),
Jeanne Marken (Madame Juliette Dufour),
George Saint-Saens (Henri), Jacques
Borel (Rodolphe),
Andre Gabriello (Monsieur Dufour),
Paul Temps (Anatole),
Gabrielle Fontan (Grandmother), Jacques
Becker (Seminary Student), Jean Renoir (Poulain--The Innkeeper);
Runtime: 45; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Pierre
Braunberger; Janus; 1936-France-in French with English
subtitles) "Plays out delightfully as an impressionist picture that sings out to us the sensuous nature of the country." Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz Unfinished
as a full length feature due to rainy weather, with
the delays causing Renoir to move on to film his next
project. Nevertheless it's perfect as a short film.
The Jean Renoir ("The Rules of the Game"/"Toni"/"The
Grand Illusion") lyrical
adaptation of a Guy de Maupassant ironical short story
is one of the better romantic idyllic country films
ever made. In 1860, on Sunday, a
hardworking Parisian tradesman Monsieur Dufour (Andre
Gabriello)
borrows a milk cart from the milkman and takes his
family for their annual summer country picnic. The
giddy wife Madame
Juliette Dufour ( Jeanne Marken), the pretty young
daughter Henriette
(Sylvia
Bataille), the
senile granny (Gabrielle Fontan) and the awkward young
shop boy Anatole (Paul Temps) are happy to breathe
fresh air, hear the birds sing and smell the flowers
after finding the perfect spot by Poulain's riverside inn, where they picnic under a
cherry tree, go boating and fish. Two country
Lotharios, Henri (George Saint-Saens) and Rodolphe (Jacques
Borel), make
a play for the daughter and mother. Henriette is briefly seduced in a
spot where a nightingale sings, by the charming Henri,
only to end up in a loveless marriage with the dullard
Anatole and is filled with a lot of regrets and happy
memories of that picnic day as she returns on a visit
many years later and meets the lovesick Henri. It plays out delightfully
as an impressionist picture that sings out to us the
sensuous nature of the country. Though it was filmed in
1936, in the beautiful Loing countryside, it wasn't
released until after the war in 1946. REVIEWED ON 6/12/2012 GRADE: A Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews" © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ |