Toni

Toni (1935)

In the 1920s, the Provence is a magnet for immigrants seeking work in the quarries or in the agriculture. Many mingle with locals and settle down for good — like Toni, an Italian who has moved in with Marie, a Frenchwoman. Even a well-ordered existence is not immune from boredom, friendship, romance, or enmity, and Toni becomes entangled in a web of increasingly passionate relationships. For there is his best pal Fernand, but also Albert, his overbearing foreman; there is Sebastian, a steady Spanish peasant, but also Gabi, his young rogue relative; there is Marie, but there is also Josefa.

Date of release
1935-02-22
TMDB
7.0 / 10 (76)
Runtime
1h 24m
Genres
Drama, Romance
Director
Jean Renoir

Casting

Interesting facts

Toni is a 1935 French drama film directed by Jean Renoir and starring Charles Blavette, Celia Montalván and Édouard Delmont. The credits mention no writers other than the story writer Jacques Levert, but the script was later confirmed to be authored by Renoir and Carl Einstein. It is an early example of the casting of non-professional actors and on-location shooting - both of which would influence the Left Bank of the French New Wave movement.

Production

Filming was based out of Marcel Pagnol's studios in Marseille and shot entirely on location in the South of France.

Some literature indicates that Luchino Visconti, one of the founding members of the neo-realist film movement, had worked as assistant director on the film, although this is disputed. Most recent scholarship seems to agree that Visconti first worked with Renoir in 1936 on A Day in the Country.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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