The figure of Jean Renoir, as an ideal and an inspiration, haunted French cinema in the 1960s, so it’s not surprising that Labarthe and Bazin devoted the longest film yet in the series to his work. Jacques Rivette was just coming off his stint as editor of Cahiers du cinéma, and was just about to throw himself full-time into filmmaking. The film was made in three parts, of which we’re showing the third, The Rule and the Exception. Sitting alone in a movie theater, Renoir analyzes clips from his films La Marseillaise and The Rules of the Game, touching on topics ranging from his attitude towards editing to the way he likes to have characters emerge in his stories.

Image courtesy of FRANCO-LONDON / THE KOBAL COLLECTION