Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

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.

Kodie Bird True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

John Brooks So whether you'd like to see it this way or not, this is basically one gigantic booty call tale, each character in the story after a particular man or woman, him or herself after another. Sure, it's "love", but really hardly more than a bunch of booty calls all mingled up together to constitute a plot. It's somewhat fun to watch, but there's no actual moral or anything valuable depicted during or at the end of the film.The cinematography is quite superb, and a treat for cinephiles, in particular those long one-take sequences with the camera traveling through entire rooms and corridors of the prestigious chateau the film takes place in.But the dialog is neither particularly stale nor interesting, it simply fulfills its obligation and guides the viewer through the various scenes knitted together as the storyline progresses. The characters are endearing for the ride to some extent but not nearly classics. The ending is fairly predictable and seems to deliver a long awaited main event in that whole romantic mess that lingers for practically two hours, probably a bit much for what it's got in store and proposes to the viewer.5/10.

gavin6942 A bourgeois life in France at the onset of World War II, as the rich and their poor servants meet up at a French château.Some have considered this one of the finest films ever made. That may be true, but I tend to look at films more in a historical context, with or without their intrinsic merits. And in the context of history, this is quite the interesting film.The flight theme comes off the heels of the Lindbergh era, and then we have France just before the Nazis took over. There is no way the creators could have known that these would be their final years, but they invested a record amount of money to present the tale. And then, what happens? The original negative is destroyed in the war... how appropriate, and sad.

OJT This farce about love, flirtation and decadence in the upper class society was too much for the rich and famous when this Jean Renoir film premiered in France before the outbreak of the second world war in 1939. The film got bad reviews, and some of the angry viewers trashed interiors, and on of the premiere cinemas was fire lit with a newspaper by an angry cinema goer. Obviously one from the aristocracy, and no wonder they were upset. Because in this film Renoir ridicules the rich and famous in a way that must have been provocative.After a rather insightful, but still rather static start, where we get to see the importance if radio and mechanical playing dolls and music boxes, leading up to when we meet the whole ensemble at a big mansion party, where also a madly-in-love pilot is maneuvered in thanks to help from a friend. The weekend is about hunting rabbits and women, and eventually men. The film winds up like a bad party, with crying and a messy love/jealousy lite night when the whole party is going to pieces. Still it ends, in a way, quite happy.The film is, of course, very 1939, but has remarkable quality, though it was thought lost, as both the original rolls were bombed to bits during the war, as well as most copies were burnt both by the French haters, as well as the German occupiers the following years. They also hated the film for more than one reason. Some copies was found 17 years later, which made it possible to restore all, except one scene, according to Renoir himself.The film ridicules also the light hearted and easily scared and hysterical women (this is why women tend to like this film less than men), though it's really the men which I think come out silly here, the Jews and also have a couple of other things we today actually would find non appropriate. But then this was back in 1939.Jean Renoir plays one of the more significant roles himself, as the guy bounding the whole charade together. It's easy to see this film has influenced many later film makers and novel writers in many countries. I find many scenes which resembles scenes I've seen before in films which has come out far later. I would even count in late films like Von Triers "Melancholy" and some of the great ensemble films by Robert Altman. So you could surely say this is essential, and is also often used as a film reference for film students.After the slow start, the film really rolls on to be significant and a cut above most if the Hollywood films from the same time era. The instruction and acting is the thing assuring this. It doesn't hurt that the film was regarded as a provocation to the rich back then, and the same to the Nazis. A classic!

tomgillespie2002 The 'one of the greatest films ever made' tag is a lot for a film to carry. There seems to be two sets of these 'greatest films ever made' - the audience's films (the likes of The Shawshank Redemption, The Godfather, Star Wars), and the critics' films (Ozu's Tokyo Story, Murnau's Sunrise, Hitchcock's Vertigo). Without wanting to sound snobbish or pretentious, I do tend to lean my preference to the critics' films. Jean Renoir's truly great film belongs in the latter category, and it's one of those films that regardless of its popularity amongst cinephiles, seems to sadly get lost on a mainstream audience.Heroic pilot Andre (Roland Toutain) touches down after a record-breaking flight to find out that the woman he loves, Christine (Nora Gregor) is not there to greet him. He is, however, greeted by his friend Octave (Jean Renoir), who, determined to cheer his friend up, arranges for Christine and her husband Robert (Marcel Dalio) to invite Andre to their lush party at their country estate. Robert knows about Christine and Andre, but is having an affair himself with Genevieve (Mila Parely), which he promises to break off. Also, Christine's maid Lisette (Paulette Dubost) finds herself more devoted to her madame than to her groundskeeper husband Schumacher (Gaston Modot), who notices her flirting with the new servant Marceau (Julien Carette).The film was sighted as such a despicable and savage mockery of the bourgeoisie upon its release that it was hit with a ban after a public outcry. The upper classes are seen as uncaring in their actions, and relatively passive upon unearthing adultery. When Robert discovers Andre and Christine together after the former promises that it is over, the two begin a lengthy and highly comical fight. At the end, the two compliment each other on their fighting styles. It seems they fought because that was what they were supposed to do. But it seems that Renoir isn't just attacking the upper classes - the maids and servants are just as bad. Lisette repeatedly flirts with Marceau, even though she knows Schumacher will ultimately kill him, and again they seem unconcerned with the consequences of their actions. French society was rotten to the core, apparently.Social commentary aside, the film is a technical marvel. Renoir deploys slow and creeping camera-work that looks in on its strange characters with an air of curiosity, as if an onlooker at a zoo. It's a film that every self-respecting film student will have studied (even though I found myself studying Erin f*****g Brockovich at college) as it is a masterclass of mise en scene. Large rooms are full of objects, yet are noticeably empty. They surround themselves with expensive crap, and fill their country estate with people, but these people are ultimately alone and out for themselves. They are going through the motions of the game, and Renoir cleverly uses black and white tiling on the mansion floor, making the characters appear like pawns on a chess board.It is a real shame that 99% of people I will meet in my life will never have heard of this film and will never watch it, even though it is one of the giants of cinema and is often cited as 'the greatest film ever made'. It is hilarious, poetic, beautiful, disturbing, and frustrating. It breezes by like Shakespeare mixed with slapstick comedy with some French farce thrown in for good measure. Make of that what you will.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com