It's a film that flows. It's a film that is circular. The river flows on, the seasons cycle, we have spring, we have birth, we have death. We have the death of childhood, the birth of womanhood. We have the re-birth of Dr. John (which seems incomplete, and that's appropriate, because life isn't neat), and we have the awakening of Melanie. But there is no resolution. Nothing is "settled" at the end, because that's not how life is. That's not how Renoir saw life.
Sheila O'Malley
October 12, 2013