On his property in Provence during WWI, Renoir paints as he waits for his sons to return from the front.

Picture gallery

With his two sons at the front and his wife deceased, Auguste Renoir, physically diminished, keeps on painting brilliantly fresh pieces, still motivated by a fierce need to improve his art. Helping him along is his latest muse Andrée, a devastatingly beautiful redhead who earns money posing for him. Wounded on the battlefield, Renoir's son Jean returns home to recuperate. Not knowing what to do with himself, he falls for Andrée, who sees her chance to become an actress and pushes Jean Renoir to make movies...

Semi-biographical story in elegant settings about the last months of Auguste Renoir's still passionate life and the beginnings of that of his illustrious son, who, despite the weight of his father's achievement, went on to become one of the greatest moviemakers of the 1930's to 50's. Renoir's speech, bubbling with life from the rheumatic body that holds him prisoner, contrasts slightly with the side of the film that is too well-behaved, lost as it is in the contemplation of the Provence countryside and models with milky skin. What remains is sluggish and borders on boring.