Criterion Club: Jean Renoir’s Toni (1935)

Small group discussion with clips/scene analysis of film Jean Renoir’s Toni (1935), a film that anticipated Italian neo-realism by a dozen years. Toni comes to Southern France for work, meets Marie who runs a boarding house where he settles. They connect. A few years later, he falls for Josefa, but she sets her sights on the macho Albert. Beautifully shot on location, and sset in a quarry in the countryside above Marseilles, the film conveys the toil of men at work; it combines a probing examination of class and milieu, two of Renoir’s major themes, with a melodrama about men and women making the wrong choices. Aided by Marcel Pagnol, who supported Renoir with his studio and some of his actors, the film comes at that sweet spot in the 30s when Renoir was gearing up for his great masterpieces at the close of the decade.

Viewing the film prior to the event is recommended. Streaming is available on Internet Archive.