Renoir

In Renoir, Chie Hayakawa (Plan 75, TIFF ’22) captures the ineffable transition from childhood to adolescence with a cinematic touch reminiscent of the famed French painter’s Impressionist style. Hayakawa’s film reflects the psychological intricacy of loss and grief through luminous frames seamlessly connected into episodes.

Drawing on her own childhood experiences and set in the late 1980s when the director was the same age as her protagonist, Hayakawa’s narrative unfolds through the eyes of Fuki (Yui Suzuki), an 11-year-old girl coping with her father’s terminal illness. As Fuki navigates the emotional turbulence of preadolescence, she is left to fend for herself, with her mother (Hikari Ishida) overwhelmed by work and the stress of caring for a dying husband (Lily Franky).

Retreating into her imagination, experimenting with hypnosis, and engaging in dangerous phone calls to a dating agency, Fuki struggles to understand and process her grief. Suzuki’s performance is extraordinary, delivering a rich palette of emotions — loss, wonder, guilt, detachment — through a nuanced portrayal of a complex character.

The film explores complicated family dynamics amid an economic boom and growing admiration for Western culture, where material wealth often masks emotional isolation.

In many Japanese households of the time, replicas of Impressionist paintings were popular. The film features a reproduction of Renoir’s portrait Irène Cahen d’Anvers. This cherished childhood gift from Hayakawa’s father lies at the heart of the film, symbolizing nostalgia and the longing for love and connection.

GIOVANNA FULVI