Foggy describes it best. The Woman on the Beach had some hitches during production and a great supporter of Renoir's in the RKO studio (Korner) passed away before the film was completed. Renoir commented later that he might have stayed at RKO until the end of his career had Korner lived. The film implements some avant-garde techniques... superimpositions, slow-motion and dissolves which directly connect to character psychology (dream logic, in fact). There is a shot-reverse-shot system at work and closeups are one-shots. Noir lighting and foggy mise-en-scene create a sense of loss. This plays well with the theme of blindness. There are some confusing allusions to alcoholism and hysteria (no explanations gleaned in my research). The film centers on a single protagonist and investigates his psychology. There is shallow depth of field, no long takes or mobile framing. Doors close and space is cut off. One gets the sense that the direction is self-reflexive and may have something to say about Renoir's relationship with his own family. "Painting has nothing to do with the brain. It's the eye. Painting is like a woman, she either thrills you or she doesn't" begs many questions about Dedee and Pierre-Auguste playing out a reverse Oedipal relationship through this story. Although the story is not one of Renoir's, it was a story which had occupied his thoughts for a long time prior to finding an outlet through its production as a film. There is a sense of distance, loss, separation, darkness and anger that renders The Woman on the Beach an unpleasurable experience. But a valuable one and a film worth watching for its powerfully suppressed authorial voice.
Review of The Woman on the Beach
