This is just a poorly acted and directed French bedroom farce. Yeah maybe it's a scathing commentary on the uber rich playing sex games. Who cares? The lead actress is a real life Austrian Princess with all the acting skills and charisma of a real life Austrian Princess. Her maid should have been the one all the men were chasing after. Renoir himself appears as a sort of court jester to these rich folks. His movements are bizarre, delivery overwrought , and he even manages to act poorly in a bear's costume! There's a scene involving the mass slaughter of rabbits and pheasants meant to show us the callous superficial cruelty of the bourgeoisie.
But as they actually do kill these animals the scene in effect condones the very thing it means to condemn! Great deep focus though! Here's 5 films from 1939 that are better than this so called masterpiece...1. The Wizard of Oz 2. The Roaring Twenties 3. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum 4. The Cat and the Canary 5. Wuthering Heights (also featuring deep focus but done much more effectively).
But as they actually do kill these animals the scene in effect condones the very thing it means to condemn! Great deep focus though! Here's 5 films from 1939 that are better than this so called masterpiece...1. The Wizard of Oz 2. The Roaring Twenties 3. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum 4. The Cat and the Canary 5. Wuthering Heights (also featuring deep focus but done much more effectively).