The River

"The River" is a welcoming film, as if it's greeting you with open arms at the very beginning. It's a warm glowing film filled with life, color, and a vibrant world. "The River" is a film that flows humbly and peacefully along, a quaint little slice of life that in its own way is perfect.

"The River" was directed by Jean Renoir and it is perhaps his most beautiful looking film ever made, possibly the most beautiful looking one in technicolor anyway. The story was a passion project for Renoir, he had obtained the rights of the novel, which was wrtiten by Rumer Godden, and held onto it for many years. His hopes for the film languished for two years until he was able to find financing from a novice producer named Kenneth McEldowney. He filmed it on location in India, where he was able to gather rich images of the life there, a whole culture which inhabits the world of "The River".

The story is told through the eyes of a young English girl named Harriet (Patricia Walters), she lives near the Bengal River with her large family. We are introduced to Harriet's mother, father, her siblings, and her little brother Bogey. But the story also involves two other girls, they are Valerie (Adrienne Corri) another English girl slightly older than Harriet, and Melanie (Radha), an girl of mixed blood, who's mother was hindu, and her father is English.

A new man comes to live in Bengal, an American named Capt. John (Thomas E. Breen), he was a soldier in the war, who's one leg was amputated. The three girls Harriet, Valerie, and Melanie all see Captain John, and in some way or another fall in love with him. Harriet is the youngest of the three, and probably the most romantic, she sees herself as an ugly duckling who wants desperately to become a swan. During a festival dance, Harriet becomes jealous when she sees Captain John pay more attention to Valerie. However he is also drawn to Melanie, who he seems more comfortable to confide in. Melanie is of mixed race and doesn't know where she fits in, she has an Indian suitor and it would be customary in the culture for her to marry him, however she is conflicted. Captain John is an outsider as well since he lost his leg, we find out he is proud, and hides away from anyone's pity; he wonders not knowing quite where he belongs, some of the most painful moments in the film come from the harsh reminder that Captain John has a handicap.

For Harriet however, she is too young to understand this, for her, Captain John is her first love, and although he feelings probably seem childish, Renoir makes it plain that they mean the world to her. She herself confides in Captain John, and shows her the little cubbie in her house that is her escape. She writes poetry and shows them to him, she opens herself up, but of course he is much too old to think of her as anything but sweet. She sees him spend more and more time with Valerie, which makes her bitter, a little while later, she along with Melanie see Captain John and Valerie kiss. "That was my first kiss", says Harriet, "but received by another".

Despite the innocence of a first love, there are darker illusions throughout the film as well, and by the end, we do experience a very tragic death which strikes very close to home for Harriet, and she will have to do some growing up.

The time line of "The River" takes place through one year in the life of this English family in India, but it feels almost like an endless summer day. The film is bathed in beautiful warm light, and there is always a feeling of rebirth in the air. Renoir was the son of the great painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir who's art was full of vivid portraits of people, I would call them slices of life. With this film, it almost seems like Renoir is trying to duplicate his fathers' work, the way he composes his people, and how he captures the gentle humanity in each of their faces.

As with most cases, Renoir had trouble getting this film off the ground. The master filmmaker had made his two masterpieces "Grand Illusion" and "Rules of the Game" in the late thirties, but by the time he made "The River" in 1951, he was no longer considered a bankable director. The film was supposed to be Renoir's first major Hollywood production but contained a rather small budget and didn't go so smoothly with his inexperienced Producer at the helm. However Renoir persevered and insisted on shooting in India, his cast had to consist of unknowns due to budget constraints, and in some cases had to cast non-actors in some of the prominent roles. However none of this is noticeable in the finished film, it's an organic and natural experience.

"The River" is a very serene film, it doesn't bother with trying to be over dramatic, it's more interested in the nature of life and how it rolls along and keeps going. The film begins and ends with the river and how it keeps moving throughout the years, it's an ongoing circle. Nothing is quite resolved at the end of the film, there is no sense of finality, it simply ends with a new beginning, everything starts over. There is a scene in the film that does illustrate this idea; Harriet is telling a story to Valerie and Captain John, when she is finished the story, she asks "How do you spell conclusion?" Captain John replies "Why don't you just say the end?" to which Valerie replies "Because it isn't the end, it starts all over again." That's what this film is all about, life and how it keeps going despite the changes it encounters.