The River - Criterion Collection
by Jean Renoir
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DVD details
Actor: Arthur Shields, Esmond Knight, Nora Swinburne, Suprova Mukerjee, Thomas E. BreenDirector: Jean Renoir
Brand: Image Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 99 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-03-01
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion
DVD Reviews of The River - Criterion Collection
DVD Review: Unbelieveable!
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is in a class by itself! Really beautiful! No other movie has ever come as close as this in showing the beautiful colors and customs of India!A masterpiece!DVD Review: Affectionate, lyrical glimpse of a childhood in India
Summary: 5 Stars
This lovely film leaves you with a calm feeling, like the realization that life flows, like a river, bringing pain and loss and joy and love but that it all evens out in the end. Perhaps it's the fact that the story, which seems to be drawn from the author's own life, is told from the distance of age. This gives it a patina, a bittersweet soft glow that acknowledges the emotions of life in a muted way. Maybe it's the fact that the author is English and she tells us of some painful events with typical English reserve.
Or maybe because Renoir was raised surrounded by beauty that he has the gift of bringing out the beauty of everyday human events. Perhaps it's a stretch to compare his films in any way to his famous father's paintings but Scorsese does so I will too. There is a roundness in painter Renoir's figures and an innate affection and pleasantness in the scenes that carries over into this film. One has the feeling that the father loved his subjects and so does the son. One is left feeling satisfied and pleased at the end.
And, the color and the visuals are those of an artist--no doubt about that!
The story is simple and, on the surface not a lot happens. But it's like life....three girls on the brink of adolescence get a crush on a visiting American ex-soldier who has lost a leg in the war. They quarrel and suffer their individual feelings in their pursuits of his attention, but as the wise mother says, it is for their own introduction to this phase of their lives. And also, it's helpful to the fellow, too. Her equanimity, as the girls sit and stew in their misery, exemplifies the spirit of the place. She also tells Harriet that the fact that she loves her husband makes the pain of childbirth a joy. We see a Hindu festival where the clay Goddess is celebrated and then returned to the river to dissolve. The events of the lives vary, from person to person, class to class, and race to race but they are all tied together by the still strong presence of the River, Life, which keeps on flowing. And yet the film doesn't show just a grim acceptance of life's woes. People are changed by their experiences. Both Captain John and Radha come to accept their feelings of being outcasts. That is the Western touch!
The film is odd by its very limitations. Lack of money prevented Renoir from hiring professional actors for most of the parts and their very amateur-ness is at first jarring. The fellow who plays Captain John, is really a terrible actor--he was chosen because he was a genuine amputee. But he plays a man who feels out of place, anyway, so his awkwardness suits the character. Then Radha, a classical Indian dancer, plays the mixed blood English/Indian girl. She performs her dance very well but her acting leaves a lot to be desired and she doesn't seem to have anything English about her. But again, her character feels alien, and after a while all of these characters mix up together in an unusual but nice soup. It works.
Initially I was a little disappointed in the film but it leaves a nice afterglow so I give it five stars. I liked the interviews with Renoir and Scorsese, too. I haven't watched the documentary featuring the author, yet, but since several reviewers here have praised it, I intend to watch it.
DVD Review: a gem from India
Summary: 5 Stars
very touching portrayal of India from the past. Depicts the culture and the human spirit that attempts to rise above the rules.DVD Review: A treasure in your collection!
Summary: 5 Stars
This wonderful film attracted me long ago. It has given me a love of India that has never faded. It also helped me understand more of other cultures and religions. It is a beautiful story of young British expats and their families, a cultural mix and work of art. It's the story of young love, jealousy and bicultural marraige.DVD Review: Wonderful, Gentle Story About a British Girl Growing Up in Post War British India
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my favorite Jean Renoir film. Yes, I love Grand Illusion and The Rules of the Game but The River moves me more. The River is in English which may help but it is also the story and the Technicolor film. The story takes place in British India where a young woman is growing up and plans to be a writer. She writes about the people around her and incorporates British and Indian culture into her stories. The film is simple, straightforward and intensely moving. I first saw this film at the Dryden Theatre in Rochester, NY when the Martin Scorsesse funded restoration print was released. I was blown away. If you ever get the chance, go see it in the theatre. If not, the DVD is the next way to go. The extras and the Criterion Collection DVD are very well put together. Remember to watch Martin Scorsesse's discussion of the film. Highly recommended.
Description of The River - Criterion Collection
Director Jean Renoir's entrancing first color feature-shot entirely on location in India-is a visual tour de force.When speaking of Jean Renoir's timeless masterpiece The River, one can easily exhaust their supply of superlatives. Frequently listed among the greatest films ever made, it was Renoir's first English-language film and his first in color.and what rich, astonishing Technicolor it is! Shot by Renoir's nephew Claude, the film is a love letter to India, seen through the eyes (and narrated as memories) of an adolescent British girl living with her family near the banks of the Ganges, a location which allowed Renoir to indulge his burgeoning affection for the region, it's people, and the exotic allure of the Orient. Under challenging conditions, Renoir and author Rumer Godden adapted Godden's autobiographical novel into an elegant, loosely plotted reflection on the romance of India, and on coming of age in a culture that, until then, few Western filmgoers had ever seen on screen. (To enhance this journey to a new world, Renoir used Indian music recorded live in Calcutta instead of a traditional score; the effect is hypnotically inviting.) Blessed with eternal lessons of life, death, and love, The River offers a transcendent film experience, guaranteed to touch the heart of anyone who sees it. The film was meticulously restored to its original glory in 2004; Criterion's DVD release preserves that restoration with a pristine digital transfer. --Jeff Shannon
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