CrawlerChunky
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
ChanFamous
I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
BelSports
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
K Bunck
A lot of people make a point of calling attention to the fact that "A day in the country" is an unfinished film, cut short by bad weather conditions and a lack of sufficient funds; I feel that these filming disruptions and hastily put together ending, actually contribute more to the film than whatever was originally planned. Henrietta, her mother, father and fiancé, all head out for a day in the country; when they arrive at their destination Henrietta's father and fiancé go fishing together, while Henrietta and her mother enjoy the company of two men who live in the country. Henrietta, based on dialog between her and the man, seems to truly fall in love with the man she meets. The film, hastily finished, due to the aforementioned reason, is in my opinion a blessing in disguise. While the director took this movie as a chance to show off, the beauty of the French country side, the short length of the film, kept the scenery from overpowering the story line. This plus the abrupt nature of the films end, really served to show, that the main characters pain at not being able to marry the man she loved, was simply indescribable. That true pain such as that could not be faked, so they were not even going to have an actress try to portray it, instead by ending the film when they did, they allow the audience to interpret the ending however they wish. Placing their own thoughts and feelings upon Henrietta and imaging how they would feel if they were in her shoes. All in all the film was not bad, the scenery was lovely, the actors seemed to know just how to act to be in harmony with the scenes used, and while to some the film may seem unfinished I believe the correct choice was made in allowing the film to be published, as is.
Jackson Booth-Millard
The only reason I saw this film was because it featured in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. It should be said firstly that it is only just under forty minutes because director Jean Renoir cancelled filming, due to incessant rainy days, and they had only two scenes left to complete the film, but the incomplete scenes are filled with captions. So, anyway it is basically the family of a Parisian shop-owner spending a day in the country, like the title says. There is a daughter that falls for a man from an inn, and they spend time together, and then (after a caption) she is married, but it may not be to right person (or whatever). That's about it. It's short, but sufficient enough. Good, in my opinion!
Kirk Miller
Just how unfinished "Partie De Campagne" truly is remains something of a contentious issue. There are countless differing theories and opinions, some of which seem to have been instigated by the director himself. There are those, this reviewer included, who believe Renoir originally intended this film as one-half of a double feature of Guy De Maupassant adaptations. Whatever might have once been planned, however, does nothing to soften the radiant beauty and brilliance of the film.Renoir had collected around himself a group of friends and family in the hope of creating what he later described as a "holiday" atmosphere during the scheduled week of filming. In accordance with the story on which it is based, long summer days and balmy afternoons by the river banks were called for in Renoir's script. Unfortunately, the cast and crew were faced with a damp, dismal July which continued long into August. Cramped up in the lobby of the hotel, sheltering from the storms outside, personal tensions and rivalries soon inevitably surfaced. With the months continuing to pass and little to show the financial backers in the rushes, money became scarce. Eventually, after refusing Sylvia Bataille's request for leave so she might audition for a future project in Paris, the director himself nonchalantly announced he would be abandoning the film to concentrate his efforts on his next film, Les Bas-fonds.Considering all of the above, it is miraculous that the film we see today is such a luminous, sensual masterpiece.Much is made of Renoir's use of deep focus techniques in films such as Le Regle de Jeu and La Grande Illusion, quite rightly so, but it is also used to great effect in this film. The film's early scenes largely take place inside a rural inn. Renoir keeps the camera mostly in one place, stationary. Then, suddenly, a window is opened; light floods in, we see trees, a breeze blowing lightly through grass, a young woman and her mother arcing high into the summer air on swings. Now we cut to a close-up of the girl, with the camera fixed to the swing, an accomplice to her every movement. She is laughing, ecstatic, exhilarated by her surroundings. It is an exhilarating moment in cinema, the sudden infusion of life and nature into the film echoes in the viewer's mind throughout the short running time.Renoir is a great film-maker, perhaps the greatest of all, and this is a great film, perhaps his greatest of all.
benoitlelievre
Sorry I don't get it.Explain it to me. Why does this guy had any kind of success. I've been studying cinema in university for more than a year and stumbled across two Jean Renoir films including this one who was particularly painful.It might be my suspension of disbelief being the problem, but i've watched some movies from this era(including Citizen Kane that I loved) and never hated'em with so much passion. Everything in that movie is overplayed and annoying. The music is damn horrible, the acting is BEYOND overplayed and the editing ain't anything special.The ones who knows semio-pragmatic, I might agree that it contains some interesting twists of that theory, but the movie is way too damn boring for the 40 minutes it last. It looks like a theater play with comedians on mushroom Very bad
