La chienne (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

Jean Renoir was of course a master in The Rules of the Game and The Grand Illusion. Of his other works, this comes closest to those exalted works. But the best reason to purchase the disc is the bonus interview with Renoir and the great actor Michel Simon. They are two aged geniuses remembering the past, remembering all its problems an still laughing buoyantly. Priceless!.

Great movie and commentary. Criterion never disappoints.

Excellent Criterion package. LA CHIENNE is one of Renoir's masterpieces, a tale of obsession and lust told with touches of great humor. It also comes with ON PURGE BEBE, Renoir's first sound feature, a slightly stagey farce. LA CHIENNE has been restored with great care and is probably the best this film has looked in decades! Certainly a great showcase for Renoir's talent, showing remarkable fluidity in terms of camerawork and marvellous invention in the use of sound.

No one is who they appear to be; all have an agenda. Remade 1945 by Fritz Lang as Scarlet Street. Renoir places more emphasis on character.

I'm a fan of Renoir, the actor Michel Simon and 1930's French films so this was right up my alley. A nerdy older man with a shrewish wife falls for a prostitute who only has eyes for her pimp. It ends badly. Hollywood's remake with Edward G. Robinson and Joan Bennett called Scarlett Street does not end badly as was typical for Hollywood. This original version is a lot better. The bad get punished and the victim too but not in the Hollywood way.

This 1931 Renoir movie, made four years after the arrival of the first talking picture, is a very realistic analysis of some aspects of Montmartre way of living, with it's crude dialogue, lightened only by Renoir's naturalistic poetry. Michel Simon gives in this film (and in "L'Atalante") one of his top performances as the constantly humiliated husband who goes painting to support his mistress who exploits him."La Chienne" comes with the 1936 short "Une partie de campagne" , a masterpiece of French freshness which reminds us that Jean Renoir is also the son of the impressionist painter Auguste Renoir.One complaint about this bonus film: dialogue is almost inaudible due to sound parasites.

La Chienne is the original of Scarlet Street which I had always liked better until I saw this new Criterion release. I don't even miss Robinson, Bennett, and Duryea. This movie is that good!

A sorry state of affairs these people put themselves in. I found the story mostly frustrating, though the characters are brought to life very well by all the actors.

Excellent print, fine film, great performance by Simon. Renoir once said that the greatest human tragedy is that everyone has their reasons. This film perfectly illustrates this idea, showing all humanity's foibles clearly, without judgement, merely observing how our passions make fools of us all. The extras, including Renoir's first sound film and a conversation between the director and his favourite actor, Simon, in 1967, are an added enticement, although the Feydoux farce is very dated and the acting stagy. Renoir's introduction to the film is good.

Toute la présentation est en espagnol et à première vu quand on achète le DVD ça ne se voit pas! Mes parents n'ont pas compris.... C'est dommage !

IL DVD che mi è arrivato vale solo per la regione 1 (USA etc) e ciò non è segnalato!! Così non è riproducibile con i normali player usati in Italia.e non mi è possibile vederlo.Credo che si dovrebbe sempre segnalare la Regione del DVD::ma perchè non li producono validi per TUTTE le regioni?