Jean Renoir

Considered by many as France's greatest filmmaker, Jean Renoir, the second son of Impressionist painter Auguste Renoir, pursued a long and tortuous road to artistic maturity. By the time he reached the first pinnacle of his genius with Grand Illusion  (1937), Renoir had been struggling for well over a decade to carve out a place for himself in the French film industry. After some early self-funded stumbles, Renoir hired himself out as a director in the late 1920s, developing his skills and reputation throughout the next decade. 

Renoir's sensitivity to the political climate of the mid-30s and his fellow-traveling with the Communist Party made him one of the most active directors in the giddy days of the Popular Front and its dramatic aftermath. Renoir would make no less than seven films of diverse inspiration and varying fortunes, including The Crime of Monsieur Lange (1936), teaming up with the Groupe Octobre and Jacques Prévert, La Marseillaise (1938), Grand Illusion, and The Rules of the Game (1939).