Review: 'Renoir', directed by Gilles Bourdos

"There are enough disagreeable things in life. I don't need to create more." Not only a personal personal doctrine held by celebrated Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Michael Bouquet, brilliant at 87 years old), but it also seems to be the guiding influence behind French filmmaker Gilles Bourdos' Renoir, a vibrant pictorial gem gorgeous enough to be framed and hung on a museum wall. Based on the book by Pierre's great grandson, Jacques Renoir, the film is so rich and cinematically alive that excusing its thin portrayals is as easy as rinsing a bit of extra paint from one's brush.

Set in the summer of 1915 at the Renoir home in Cagnes-sur-Mer on the French Riviera, Bourdos captures the lush, surreal energy of the aging painter's existence at the tail end of his legendary career. At 74 years of age, he's seeing his talent begin to fade, afflicted with devastating arthritis that has left his hands bulging, twisted wrecks. It hasn't hurt his lust for life, or the desire to capture on canvas his bevy of full-figured beauties. As his skills wane, we see the burgeoning of a new talent in his son, Jean (Vincent Rottiers), who we know some day will become the great director of such classics as La Grande Illusion and The Rules of the Game. At this point he's still trying to figure out his path in life, having returned home from the war with a grievous injury. "He's always dabbling", the elder Renoir notes about his son.

The arrival of fresh-faced beauty Andree (a superb Christa Theret) sparks the flames of artistic passion in Pierre-Auguste. Referred by his recently-deceased wife, Andree is like a whirlwind through the already chaotic estate, where the artist is taken care of by an army of housemaids who all at one point or another served as his muses. They recognize right away that Andree is both a godsend and a troublemaker, and her fiery crimson hair a sign of her volatile personality. She tempts the elder Renoir but soon catches the gaze of the younger. She desires to be an actress, and sparks Jean's interest in movies for the first time, mostly for her selfish benefit.

Andree is a fascinating real life figure, one that has mostly been lost to history, and one can see Bourdos wanting to give her a rare moment in the sun. She would eventually become Jean's first wife, acting in a number of his films as Catherine Hessling before vanishing into obscurity after their divorce. She's portrayed here as the classic French firebrand, sexy and mercurial, demanding and passionate. This is as much her story as that of the more famous Renoirs.

While physical contact is mostly kept to a minimum, this is an erotic, sensual film from the lounging scantily clad women to the highly suggestive strokes of Pierre-Auguste's brush. It helps that the film is shot with impeccable grace by Mark Lee Ping Bin, whose breathtaking cinematography brought Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love to life. Most of the paintings Renoir is carefully constructing are part of what has become known as his latter "Bathers" series, and we see crippled artist literally carried from one gorgeous floral locale to the next. It's like being transported into one of his masterworks and watching it be completed from the inside out.

One doesn't need to be familiar with the Renoir legacy to fall in love with the film, but those who are will feel a special appreciation for the rarely-told story of these two unique talents, and the woman who inspired them. While Renoir isn't the deepest look at the legendary painter, it is far and away the most enjoyable.