44 Jean Renoir Movies, Ranked Best to Worst

The Rules of the Game is a comedy drama film which tells the story of Andre, whose lover Christine gets married to an aristocrat named Robert and refuses to meet him. Things get interesting when Andre is invited to Robert’s estate.

During the First World War, French pilot, Captain de Boeldiue, and his co-pilot, Lieutenant Marechal, are captured after their plane is shot down. They find themselves in a POW camp, where they befriend a Jewish banker, and few other prisoners, and plan an escape. But before the plan could be implemented, they get transferred by train to a fortress-prison in Alsace, France.  

A charismatic thief befriends a bankrupt baron after the latter comes to live in his slum. Meanwhile, the thief is also trying to gain the affection of a young lady, who is dealing with problems of her own.

This romantic comedy short film tells the story of a young woman, daughter of a Parisian shop owner, whose family is on a vacation in the countryside. While spending time at an inn, she meets and falls for a man.

Jacques Lantier is a train engineer who suffers from violent seizures. Roubaud is a train conductor who works on the same railroad that Lantier works on. When Roubaud discovers that his wife Séverine is having an affair, he kills the man, and makes her an accomplice to the murder. Shortly after, Lantier finds himself attracted to Séverine as well, despite knowing everything, and they both begin an affair. Séverine urges Lantier to get rid of her husband, so that they would both be free.

The friendship between three adolescent girls is tested when they all fall in love with an older American soldier named Captain John, who has a prosthetic leg, as a result of his time in the war.

A gentle and kind-hearted bookseller saves the life of a tramp from drowning, and shelters him. However, things get complicated when the tramp’s behavior begin to irritate everyone around him.

A poor young girl struggles to sell matches on Paris streets on New Year’s eve. It is extremely cold, yet she refrains from going back home lest her father hits her for failing to earn money. As she takes shelter near a toy shop and tries to warm herself up by lighting matches, she begins seeing various visions that comfort and bring happiness to her.

The French film based on real-life events follows Italian immigrant Toni who works in South France quarry while living with local woman Marie. He falls for Spanish worker Josefa who decides to marry overbearing Albert, while Toni marries Marie. When both marriages fall apart, Toni chooses to live near Josefa’s house and gets involved in Josefa’s misfortunes only to face tragic results.

This French historical film is about the events of early days of the French Revolution. It contrasts the royal life of King Louis XVI with that of the ordinary citizens who faced difficult times but eventually stood up to defeat the monarchy.

This is the story of a French Corporal captured by German forces during the WWII.  Based on Jacques Perret's own experience as a prisoner of war, the film focuses on the Corporal’s relentless attempts to escape from the prison camp, sometime making only a short distance and sometimes longer, in course of which he wins the heart of a German dentist’s daughter.  

French biologist, Etienne Alexis, is an ardent advocate of compulsory artificial insemination as a means for improving humanity and eradicating passion. Also a candidate for the European presidency, he has recently been engaged to his German cousin, whom he has invited to a picnic. Also present at the picnic is his luscious chambermaid Nénette, who wants a child, but is not interested in men. 

After her latest play is a disaster due to her lack of talent, a beautiful and arrogant actress decides to become a courtesan for a government official.  

Whirlpool of Fate is a silent drama film which tells the story of a young orphaned girl, who after the death of her father, has no other option but to escape from her cruel uncle. She finds refuge with a landowner’s son, but her happiness is short-lived as her uncle comes looking for her. 

Night at the Crossroads is a mystery crime film, which revolves around a gang of thieves, who hide out in a garage after they rob a jewelry store, and kill the owner. However, when their beautiful leader falls in love with the detective who is in charge of capturing them, the escape becomes difficult. 

Enamored with his patient Mr. Rouault’s daughter, French countryside widower, Doctor Charles Bovary, marries Emma Rouault, who yearns for wealth and a fantasy world. Tied down in a marriage where her husband doesn’t share her interest in the social bustle, discontented Emma’s careless lifestyle soon gets her in debt, and she flings herself in one affair after another, unconcerned about the consequences.

Floria Tosca is a young woman, who is in love with a revolutionary freedom fighter named Mario Cavaradossi. However, she is desired by a tyrannical ruler named Scarpia.   

One of the earlier movies of Jean Renoir, wherein bourgeois poet Jean Dubois d’Ombelles and his valet Joseph Turlot simultaneously enlist in the army and end up in the same barracks, resulting in humorous situations. As their incompetence brings them disgrace in front of the battalion, they must save face by entertaining at a regiment party, where Jean plays Pan while Joseph is lady angel.  

Backbiters is a drama film which revolves around the social conflict between the classes, shown through the life of a young orphaned girl named Catherine. She finds herself a victim of the jealousy of women and the greed of men.

In Renoir’s French comedy, the leading porcelain manufacturer Mr. Follavoine wishes to sell what he believes as the world’s first unbreakable chamber-pot. Prominent government official Mr. Chouilloux is invited for dinner in hope of receiving a large order for the French army. But a domestic problem arises when Follavoine’s young son, suffering from constipation, refuses to take his laxative, which leads to chaos. 

This documentary film was made as propaganda for the Communist Party of France, and it shows the comrades helping the proletarian people against the capitalists. The film also includes few speeches by some of the leading members of the party.

François Chotard is a wholesale grocer, whose daughter falls for a poet and gets married to him, much to her father’s annoyance. Chotard thinks that his son-in-law is useless, but things take a turn when he wins a prestigious literary award. Chotard becomes so proud of his son-in-law that he urges everyone to read his works, but this causes the shop to nearly go bankrupt.

This surreal, silent short film is set in 2028. An African explorer takes off in a flying sphere from civilized Africa and travels towards European wilderness. Landing in a ruined Paris street, he meets a flapper in a very short dress, with her pet gorilla. She teaches the Charleston dance to the explorer and later, flies back with him in flying sphere.

This black and white short film tells the story of a young girl named Lili, an innocent and pure girl who has lost her entire family. Her life gets worse when she meets a man who is going to lead her to the world of prostitution.

Celestin, a young man, who is the organist in a convent, writes and composes a light operetta using the name Floridor. When he begins courting a woman named Corinne, who is the start of his operetta, it leads to a lot of problems and complications.