The Lower Depths (1936 film)
The Lower Depths is a 1936 French drama film directed by Jean Renoir and starring Jean Gabin, Suzy Prim and Louis Jouvet. It is based on the 1902 play of the same title by Maxim Gorky. Its scenes contrast the life of the upper and lower classes to comedic effect. It was shot at the Epinay Studios of Eclair and on location between Epinay and Saint-Denis on the Seine. The film's sets were designed by the art director Eugène Lourié.
Theatrical release poster
Jean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s. His films La Grande Illusion (1937) and The Rules of the Game (1939) are often cited by critics as among the greatest films ever made. He was ranked by the BFI's Sight & Sound poll of critics in 2002 as the fourth greatest director of all time. Among numerous honours accrued during his lifetime, he received a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award in 1975 for his contribution to the motion picture industry. Renoir was the son of the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and the uncle of the cinematographer Claude Renoir. He was one of the first filmmakers to be known as an auteur.
Renoir in 1959
The young Renoir with Gabrielle Renard in a painting by his father Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1895–96)