In Renoir, the arrival of a young woman sends ripples through a household and ultimately becomes the turning point in the creative and personal lives of both Auguste Renoir (Michel Bouquet), the ailing patriarch and renowned Impressionist painter, and Jean (Vincent Rottier), his son. Joining the Renoir family at their compound to work as a model for Auguste’s paintings, Andrée Heuschling (Christa Théret) meets Jean, then recovering from his military service in the First World War. Jean is taken by her singular beauty and assured nature, and the two enter into a relationship, one which will mark the younger Renoir in his search for identity as a young man in the shadow of his painter father, primed as he is to become one of most important figures in the defining art of the 20th century: cinema.

Set in the last years of painter Auguste Renoir’s life, the film’s radiant renditions of the south of France testify to Mark Lee Ping-Bing's understanding of the master painter’s relationship with light, space, and the body, bringing Renoir’s paintings to life not by mere imitation but by infusing it with luxurious colour and texture. As his third collaboration with director Gilles Bourdos, Lee garnered two nominations: one for Best Cinematography at the César Awards and the other by the American Society of Cinematographers for its inaugural Spotlight Award in 2014.

The screening on 29 November will be followed by a talk with the cinematographer of Renoir, Mark Lee Ping-Bing. This talk will be held in Mandarin.

Gilles Bourdos (b. 1963, France) is a film director, screenwriter, and producer known for his atmospheric thrillers, which pair troubling themes with striking, powerfully composed imagery. He is one of the founders of the French production company Persona Films, which produced much of his early work. Bourdos began his career directing short films, including Un Cadeau de Noël (1986) and L'Éternelle Idole (1989), before making his feature debut at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival with Disparus (1998), a political thriller and love triangle set against the Surrealist movement in 1938 Paris. He is best known for Renoir, which competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival. His most recent feature, Cross Away (2024), was selected for the Rome Film Festival.