Toni (1935)

An Italian migrant worker (Charles Blavette) goes to the South of France to work in a quarry. He becomes his landlady's (Jenny Helia) lover but plans to leave her when he falls in love with a Spanish migrant (Celia Montalvan). Instead, the Spanish girl marries another man (Max Dalban). Directed by Jean Renoir, the film uses a mixture of professional actors and non professionals. It's a film that I wanted to like more than I did. I'm partial to Renoir as a film maker but I was so put off by the characters that I couldn't invest much interest in their fate. The film's title protagonist is a bit of a weasel as a human and also an animal abuser yet we're supposed to care? The only character I could relate to was the landlady, who was a clinging shrew yet she was the most honest character in the whole movie. I didn't dislike it and I appreciated Renoir's naturalistic style which would influence both the French New Wave and the Italian neo-realism (reputedly Luchino Visconti was Renoir's assistant director on the film) that would follow. The ending should have been gut wrenching but when it was over, all I could say was "Hmmm". With Michel Kovachevitch and Andrex.