Candice Renoir

Jean Renoir and Akira Kurosawa, two of cinema's greatest directors, transform Maxim Gorky's classic proletariat play The Lower Depths in their own ways for their own times. Renoir, working amidst the rise of Hitler and the Popular front in France, had need to take license with the dark nature of Gorky's source material, softening its bleak outlook. Kurosawa, firmly situated in the postwar world, found little reason for hope. He remained faithful to the original with its focus on the conflict between illusion and reality—a theme he would return to over and over again. Working with their most celebrated actors (Gabin with Renoir; Mifune with Kurosawa), each film offers a unique look at cinematic adaptation—where social conditions and filmmaking styles converge to create unique masterpieces.

David Thompson's beguiling documentary on Renoir's life and work, made for the occasion of the one-hundredth anniversary of his birth. Born 100 years ago, Jean Renoir (1894-1979) is considered by many the greatest of film directors. Omnibus presents a two-part investigation of Renoir's life and career, coinciding with a short season of his films on BBC2.
The son of Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Jean's career began in the silent era but his most acclaimed films date from the 1930s. His films are said to reflect his father's love of nature and deep humanity, and have long been an inspiration to other directors as well as audiences.

Lionsgate proudly releases the Jean Renoir Collector’s Edition Box Set featuring seven films from one of the greatest geniuses of the French cinema. The collection includes completely re-mastered classics such as four of Renoir’s earliest movies – La Fille de l’eau, Nana, Sur un air de Charleston and La Petite marchande d’allumettes – a release from his political period – La Marseillaise – and two of his last movies – Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier and Le Caporal Epingle. The set also includes the documentary “Jean Renoir: An Auteur to Remember.” This documentary, created specifically for this box set, features…..