The River
Directed by Jean Renoir
Written by Rumer Godden and Jean Renoir from Godden’s novel
1951/UK/France/India/USA
Oriental International Filma
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Valerie: This… being together… in the garden. All of us happy, and you with us here, I didn’t want it to change… and it’s changed. I didn’t want it to end… and it’s gone. It was like something in a dream. Now you’ve made it real. I didn’t want to be real.[/box]
This has a few downsides but Renoir’s beautiful vision of India is not one of them. It is my favorite of the director’s non-French films.
The film relates the story of three girls’ comings of age in India. They are nearly 18-year old Valerie, the “pretty one”, her cousin Harriet, a younger self-styled ugly duckling and inspiring writer, and Melanie, the daughter of the Irish next-door neighbor (Arthur Shields) and his Hindu wife. Most of the action takes place in or around Harriet’s house. Her father runs a jute mill and her mother is expecting the next in a long line of babies. Harriet has several younger sisters and one rambunctious little brother named Bogey. Melanie has just returned from boarding school. She immediately takes off her Western clothes and vows to wear only a sari thereafter. The other characters that loom large are the large river that runs by the property and the ceremonies and daily life of the local people.
Into this menage comes Captain John, a twenty-something American who lost one of his legs in the war and is terribly self-conscious about it. He becomes the main point of interest of all of the girls. Harrriet, in particular, is passionately devoted to him. He is mostly oblivious to all this attention but becomes closest to Melanie who, like him, is struggling to discover where she fits in in the world.
The story is a slice of life exploration of all the confusion, pain, and exaltation i\of first love. Perversely, tragedy helps various characters come to some kind of peace with themselves.
I’m not sure whether this was Renoir’s first color film. He certainly handles it like his painter father might have. The film looks absolutely spectacular. The portraits of Indian life are sensuous and ring very true. This film does not boast the best acting in the world. In particular, the actor who plays Captain John is earnest and somewhat endearing but does not really portray inner turmoil the way a more experienced actor might. I was fully satisfied just looking at the thing and basking in some languid Indian days. Recommended.
This film was instrumental in launching the careers of Satyajit Ray (Pather Panchali) – an assistant on the film – and Subrata Mitra, who went on to become Ray’s cinematographer.
Trailer
