Jean Renoir's first feature film was the silent picture "La Fille de l'eau", the English Translation being "Whirlpool of Fate", made in 1924. As I'm watching it, I'm finding it to be one of those Kitchen Sink-type movies that first-time directors are apt to produce - it's fast-paced, melodramatic, and it covers a range of tones and emotions. And yet, having already seen a bit of his later work, I can sense a very definite Renoir-ness about it: the colorful cast of characters, the bits of humor stitched into the titles, the setup and stylization of many of the shots...
There's a beautiful one at the beginning that shows the barge coming up a canal. The camera is stationary on the bank of the canal while the barge moves through the frame from left to right. Meanwhile, one of the male characters is walking along the top of the barge from right to left, which means he's basically staying in the same place in the frame while the barge glides beneath him. It's really beautiful, and a neat idea for an establishing shot.
Stay tuned for a complete review!
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