Toni. 1935. USA. Directed by Jean Renoir. Screenplay by Renoir, Carl Einstein, from a story by Jacques Levert. With Charles Blavette, Celia Montalván, Jenny Hélia, Édouard Delmont, Max Dalban. DCP. In French; English subtitles. 84 min.
“The awful thing about life is this: everyone has their reasons,” said Jean Renoir in The Rules of the Game (1939). Released just a few years earlier, his groundbreaking Toni, set in a world increasingly burdened by fascist forces that intensify antagonism and attraction across borders and social classes, anticipates many of the lessons of his later work. Considered a precursor to French poetic realism and Italian Neorealism, Toni was filmed on location in Southern France with professional and amateur actors with French, Italian, Spanish, and Mexican accents, offering a realistic and melodramatic depiction of an immigrant community whose lives are shaped by love, jealousy, and the unpredictable complexities and politics of human nature.