Lecture by Russell Merritt

"India brought me many things by way of The River. India brought me a certain understanding of life. . . . India may have taught me that everyone has his reasons."-Jean Renoir

The River was inspired by the novel by Rumer Godden, who also cowrote the scenario with Renoir. The action takes place in Bengal during the last years of the Raj; three young women are in love with one of their cousins, who decides to leave rather than have to choose among the three of them. It is more than anything else a film about British colonialism as seen through the eyes of a teenager. Jacques Rivette describes The River as “the only example of a film vigorously reflecting itself, in which the narrative structure, the metaphysical themes, and the sociological descriptions not only answer one another but are in every way interchangeable.” The color photography by the director's nephew Claude Renoir has often been noted and admired by the filmmakers of the French New Wave.