Jean Renoir

[hearthesilence]

MoMA screened Le petit théâtre de Jean Renoir tonight - it was a 35mm print from their own collection, and it looked beautiful. The interlude with Jeanne Moreau looked particularly stunning. This is actually the first time I've seen a good, color film projection of anything with Moreau - shot and well-lit on an actual stage, it was an optimal photographic set-up - and it was startling how lifelike she looked when the camera floated into close-up. Utterly charming and personal, it has its champions in critics like Dave Kehr, but it feels undervalued. It may have been very late in the game, and it may have been made for television, but Renoir's abilities as a filmmaker hardly feels diminished here. More importantly, it's through and through a Jean Renoir film - it's difficult picturing anyone else making it. As his last film, it brings to mind something that was said around the time Chabrol, Rohmer and other French filmmaking giants were passing away - it's profoundly sad knowing that there won't be any more films made through that unique voice that's now been silenced.