Wordiezett So much average

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

treywillwest This is Jean Renoir at his finest. I think it far surpasses Smiles of a Summer Night as a cinematic valentine to the wooded countryside. It's no great wonder it's imagery is so detailed as the first assistant cinematographer was some young dude named Henri Cartier-Bresson. A comedy that leaves one sad, it describes the hopes and disappointments of the nineteenth century European middle-class. Small artisans were starting to think of themselves as independent capitalists, but in fact the restraints on their lives- geographic and economic- made them far from free-agents. In his introduction, the auteur compares the film's locations to that of his famous father's paintings. As a fan of the son but not the father, I will say that I think this artist captured the wonders of the French countryside better than his, perhaps, more celebrated dad. Yet this does seem like a tribute to the auteur's father. For the only flaw is the film's awful score, so sugary as to bring to mind the elder Renoir's sentimentality at it's worst.

dlee2012 Une Partie de Campagne is a fascinating early film by Jean Renoir that already demonstrates his masterful cinematography. The outdoor scenes are superbly shot and feel very modern, even when watched in the twenty-first century.Based on a short story by Maupassant the film has a typically French light touch, even when dealing with serious subject matter.The main problem with this film is the casting. As others have noted, both the father and the fiancé are depicted as comic fools and this jars against the style of the rest of the film. The fiancé, in particularly, is constantly mocked in an attempt to justify Henriette's affair with the (slightly) more sympathetic of the two seducers.Henriette herself is also miscast. Played by Sylvie Bataille (later notorious for marrying the fringe psycho-analyst Jacques Lacan) she is a very wooden actress and lacks the charm and innocence needed for the role.What will concern some is that the film is morally subversive in that the seducers are portrayed in a largely positive light and hints that Henriette did the right thing, given how her fiancé turns out. In fact, its morals are the inverse of those found in so many didactic novels of the 19th Century, despite being based on a story written in that time period.Though some complain about the film's short length and there is much conjecture about how unfinished it is, it is satisfying in that it conveys the story efficiently and ends on a believable note.To summarise, less buffoonery from the two male family members and a much better actress than Bataille as the lead would have been needed to lifted this film to the level of a classic. Therefore, ultimately, this film cannot be considered essential for art-house fans and Renoir himself would go on to do much better things. However one can witness the genesis of his style here and revel in the beauty of the countryside in his cinematography and also the wonderfully French light touch on display.

ackstasis Last week I watched Jean Renoir's 'The Rules of the Game (1939)' for the first time, and, while I quite enjoyed it, I felt rather distanced from the story, as though the film was so preoccupied with snappy characters and dialogue (as in a stage play) that it didn't bother with emotion or atmosphere, the evocation of time and place. Happily, this wasn't a problem with 'Partie de campagne / A Day in the Country (1936).' Renoir's unfinished adaptation of a short story by Guy de Maupassant gains a wonderful personality through its on-location filming. Even though we ourselves never observe the oppressive, polluted Parisian streets, Claude Renoir's outdoor photography sweeps over us with the cool and cleansing touch of a fresh breeze, somehow translating into visuals the revitalising sensation of clean country air in one's lungs. Unfortunately, it was also this on-location shooting schedule that proved the film's demise, weather problems delaying and eventually leading to abandonment of production. The film was not released until 1946, faithfully edited together using the existing footage.Renoir's film undoubtedly feels like an unfinished work, but what exists is nonetheless brilliant. Unlike many unfinished or studio-butchered would-be masterpieces, that 'A Day in the Country' was not completed to the director's satisfaction causes minimal detriment to the sequences that remain today. The narrative up until the "ending" is perfectly-structured and enjoyable to watch, all planned sequences up until this point having presumably been filmed without incident. However, after Henri (Georges D'Arnoux) and Henriette (Sylvia Bataille) come together for the first time in a reluctant but passionate embrace, the story then jarringly cuts to a years-later epilogue, a wistful conclusion that reflects on events that seemingly never took place. "Every night I remember," confesses Henriette, as she meets her former one-time lover, having settled on marrying a scruffy imbecile (Paul Temps). But exactly what does she remember? There had been nothing in the film to suggest that she and Henri had fallen in love; this eventuality had always been implied, but never satisfactorily executed.A strong cast – including André Gabriello, Jane Marken, Jacques B. Brunius and Renoir himself – bring lighthearted humour to their respective roles, but it is the budding romance (never quite realised) between D'Arnoux and Bataille that form's the story's heart. Following its eventual 1946 release, 'A Day in the Country' was lauded as an "unfinished masterpiece," and I suppose that such a description is appropriate. Had filming been completed, such that the story followed through its intended and logical arc, I can only imagine what a powerful piece of cinema the film might have been. Have you ever had a wonderful dream from which you were woken prematurely? This is how I feel about 'A Day in the Country.' Everything up until the hasty ending is funny, emotional, glorious, and invigorating, yet we're wrenched from the dream-like clasp of Renoir's hand unexpectedly and disappointingly. But I'm an optimist: we should simply be glad that this much of the film exists for us to enjoy. Reflecting on what might have been is a task that should ideally be left to movie characters.

Ben Parker A 40 minute fragment of an unfinished movie which Truffaut describes as a cinematic short story, about a picnic in the country.Renoir movies are always idyllic visually - like beautiful cinematic paintings, but Partie de Campagne is particularly idyllic. For some reason Renoir really wanted us to feel that we were in the country. This is his most visceral movie: he really takes you into the landscape in a way he does not usually do. Usually we merely sit back and admire it - here we are shown some gorgeous images of rain on the stream from the view of a boat on the water. The bottom half of the frame is virtually in the water we're so close to the action.My favourite parts of Renoir movies are when he goes out on location (which he did quite a bit) and shoots wonderful scenes in nature. Here we have forty minutes of pure natural beauty (with a group of characters added for colour). I'm not sure that if Renoir continued with this project it would have retained enough interest over a two hour length - most likely its merely the central episode of a movie. Like Kubrick, Renoir made his movies up from several big, beautiful chunks. This applies most to Grand Illusion, so perhaps this sequence would never have been intended to supply enough dramatic interest for an entire story, but for lovers of Renoir, here are some of the most beautiful things he ever filmed. If you've never seen a Renoir film, the first experience is always the best, and it might be spoiling you if you start with this one, but it would be a beautiful introduction to him.