After shooting multiple films in Hollywood, the acclaimed French director Jean Renoir set off to India to shoot his first color film. While searching for locations in Calcutta, Renoir befriended a young Satyajit Ray, who would accompany him on his scouting expeditions. Lovingly shot by Jean’s nephew, DP Claude Renoir, the vibrant Technicolor underscores the turbulent emotions of the young women at the center of the story, as they begin to make the delicate transition from childhood to adulthood. Adapted from Rumer Godden’s autobiographical novel, THE RIVER deals with many of Renoir's favorite themes: love and death, decay and renewal, all seen through the prism of daily life.
THE RIVER was restored using the original three-strip Technicolor camera negative along with soundtrack elements from two safety prints.
Restored by Academy Film Archive, in association with the BFI and Janus Films, with restoration funding provided by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and The Film Foundation.
Martin Scorsese on THE RIVER
Joe Lindner Interview
Karen Stetler Interview
THE RIVER (1951)
VIDEO EXTRAS
Peter Bogdanovich Recommends: Jean Renoir's The River via YouTube.
Peter Bogdanovich Recommends: Jean Renoir via YouTube.
Jean Renoir's Honorary Award: 1975 Oscars via the Oscars's YouTube Channel.
A Conversation with Jean Renoir - Speculation no. 105a - 1966 - 60 minutes via Andy Rector's YouTube.
Late Jean Renoir Interview in English via Andy Rector's YouTube.
Orson Welles Talks Touch of Evil, James Cagney & Jean Renoir via YouTube.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Filmed Painting at Home (1919) via YouTube
The River | BFI Video Essay by Hannah Flint via YouTube
THE RIVER (1951)
READING LIST (BOOKS)
Renoir, My Father, Jean Renoir, New York Review of Books, 2001
My Life and My Films, Jean Renoir, Da Capo Press, 1991
Renoir on Renoir: Interviews, Essays, and Remarks, ed. Andrew Dudley, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1990
Jean Renoir, Andre Bazin, Da Capo Press, 1992
Jean Renoir: A Biography, Pascal Merigeau, Running Press Adult, 2017
The River, Rumer Godden, Open Road Media, 2021
THE RIVER (1951)
READING LIST (ONLINE)
"The River: A New Authenticity" by Ian Christie for The Criterion Collection
"Following a Family at Home Abroad" by Peter Tonguette for The Wall Street Journal
"Higher Learning: Renoir's India" by Priya Jaikumar for Film Comment
"Great Directors: Jean Renoir" for Senses of Cinema
"Out of the Vaults: Renoir's The River, 1951" by Meher Tatna for The Film Foundation
The River (featuring texts from Andre Bazin, Dave Kehr, and more) for Sabzian
"Jean Renoir's Ethereal Coming-of-Age Romance" by Peter Bradshaw for The Guardian
Martin Scorsese's Top 10 (including The River) for The Criterion Current
Pedro Costa's Top 10 (including The River) for The Criterion Current
"Dad Left a Big Impression: The Renoir Family Inheritance" by Jason Farago for The New York Times
THE RIVER (1951)
LISTENING (ONLINE)
Desert Island Discs: Rumer Godden
Renoir Oral Histories via The Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc
THE RIVER (1951)
SATYAJIT RAY and JEAN RENOIR
"Satyajit Ray's Encounter With Jean Renoir" via SatyajitRay.org
Satyajit Ray about Jean Renoir, 10 May 1979 (in French) via YouTube.
"Jean Renoir Helped Give Us the Movies of Satyajit Ray" via The Wall Street Journal
THE RIVER (1951)
THE FILM FOUNDATION ON LETTERBOXD
Art Director Bansi Chandragupta
THE RIVER (1951)
Presented in The Film Foundation Restoration Screening Room in February 2023
in partnership with:
Academy Film Archive, BFI National Archive, Janus Films, The Criterion Collection, and Beta Film
