Le déjeuner sur l’herbe (1959)

by guestwriter

Le dejeuner sur l’herbe (Picnic On The Grass) is most likely one of the best color pictures ever produced. Directed by Jean Renoir in 1959, the action takes place mostly outside, in nature. The filming technique used was borrowed from contemporary television practises and consisted of using multiple cameras simultaneously in order to create the least breaks in the acting scenes. Le déjeuner sur l’herbe takes up the topic of a modern issue, the role of scientific research and the effect of mass media upon people’s lives. There is a strong contrast between science-nature-technology-passion, which subtlety gives the film its humour. Etienne Alexis is the symbol of modern science, who believes that passion is a misplaced human emotion that can be cured like any common cold… That until he meets Nénette, a servant girl. We also have mystical ingredients such as the flute of Gaspard, a Dionysian portrait. Thus the wind seems to have aphrodisiac powers, transforming Alexis into a human being, falling in love with Nénette, a completely different person from his fiancé, Marie-Charlotte, as cold-minded as he used to be. But nature is the strongest part and the most beautiful unseen actor in the movie, which was filmed on the very former Renoir family estate in Cagnes-sur-mer.

Un exemplu edificator al simtului estetic mostenit din familia Renoir, Le dejeuner sur l’herbe a fost regizat de Jean Renoir in 1959 si este un film deosebit de amuzant, prin prisma contrastelor majore si al subiectelor moderne abordate: mass-media, sexul, nebunia oamenilor de stiinta. Natura este actorul principal, alaturi de Etienne Alexis, un om de stiinta care nu crede in iubire, si Nénette, o fata obisnuita, care ajung sa se indragosteasca in imprejurari aproape mistice.

images: cinemovie.fr