| | Toni (Masters Of Cinema) | |
Description
Financed by Marcel Pagnol's production company, Jean Renoir's Toni is a
landmark in French filmmaking. Based on a police dossier concerning a provincial
crime of passion, it was lensed by Claude Renoir on location (unusually for the
time) in the small town of Les Martigues where the actual events occurred. The
use of directly-recorded sound, authentic patois, lack of make-up, a large
ensemble cast of local citizens in supporting roles, and Renoir's steadfast
desire to avoid melodrama lead to Toni often being labeled "the first
'neorealist' film". Renoir himself disagreed. Although Toni is acknowledged as a
masterly forerunner of neo-realist preoccupations and techniques he wrote: "I do
not think that is quite correct. The Italian films are magnificent dramatic
productions, whereas in Toni I was at pains to avoid the dramatic."
Toni's story centres on an Italian immigrant, Antonio Canova (Charles Blavette),
a labourer at a local quarry who has become entangled in relationships with his
landlady (Jenny Helia) and with the young, hot-blooded Spaniard, Josefa (Celia
Montalvan). As Josefa's life disintegrates through rape and a necessitous
marriage to a brutish foreman Albert (Max Dalban), Toni loses himself in a
series of marriages gone sour and the psychological fragility of those he cares
for.
Despite the exquisite location backgrounds - the vineyards, rocky hilltops and
verdant pathways surrounding the little village - Renoir makes no attempt to
impose, through visual picturesqueness, the placid power of this Provencal
backwater. Toni's direct style and theme (Luchino Visconti was assistant
director) attained classic status with the critics and directors of the French
New Wave. Renoir's vision of realism approaches a purity sometimes found in
documentary, whilst retaining the literary power and emotion of Balzac, Flaubert
and Zola. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Toni for the first
time on DVD in the West.
Special Features
- Newly struck progressive transfer
- Full-length audio commentary by Kent Jones and Phillip Lopat
- Video introduction by NFT programmer Geoff Andrew
- New and improved optional English subtitles
- 28-page booklet featuring an essay by Tom Milne and more!
Technical Details
Region 2
Running Time: 109 minutes
Genre: Drama
Certificate: PG Parental Guidance
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Release Date: 17-04-2006
