Renoir's First Film Restored: Les Films du Jeudi Unveils Slate

Jean Renoir's first film, the 1924 silent feature "Une vie sans joie" ("Catherine"), will return to theaters in 2027 in a new 4K restoration, Paris-based Les Films du Jeudi announced Wednesday. The company unveiled its latest lineup ahead of the Classic Film Market's annual Catalogue Holders' Premiere Presentation at the Lumière Festival in Lyon.

Managing director Laurence Braunberger shared the slate exclusively with Variety. It spans four restored titles: Renoir's debut, Raymond Lamy's "Miroir" (1946), Pierre Gaspard-Huit's "Sophie et le crime" (1954) and Jean Becker's 1965 comedy "Tendre voyou", starring Jean-Paul Belmondo.

What does the slate include?

"Une vie sans joie" ("Catherine"), 1924. The first film attributed to Jean Renoir, co-directed with Albert Dieudonné, depicts a conflict between social classes. Catherine Ferrand, a young maid in the Mallet household, endures her employer's hostility and the persecution of local villagers. Secretly in love with Mallet's tuberculosis-stricken son, she runs away, only to fall into the hands of a notorious pimp. Les Films du Jeudi carried out the 4K restoration with the Cinémathèque Française and support from the French National Film Board (CNC). Tamasa will release the film as a DVD/Blu-ray box set, followed by a theatrical run in 2027 as part of a retrospective of Renoir's silent films.

"Miroir", 1946. Raymond Lamy's film arrives in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of star Jean Gabin's death. Gabin plays Monsieur Lussac, a rich, brilliant and respectable financier by day who becomes Mirror, a ruthless Marseille gang leader, by night.

"Sophie et le crime" ("Girl on the Third Floor"), 1954. Pierre Gaspard-Huit's crime drama stars Marina Vlady at 17. Braunberger called the release "an impromptu tribute to this wonderful actress who has just passed away." Vlady died on Sept. 24 in Paris at the age of 88. Based on the novel by Cecil Saint-Laurent, the film follows Sophie, a passionate but naïve Paris journalist who sets out to prove a suspected killer's innocence. Jean Gaven and Peter van Eyck also star. The CNC likewise supported this 4K restoration.

"Tendre voyou" ("Tender Scoundrel"), 1965. Jean Becker's comedy features Belmondo as Tony, a professional seducer who decides to live off rich women. At a ski resort he meets Muriel, who falls in love with him; in Tahiti he cannot satisfy the sexual appetite of Baroness von Strasshofer; and when he finally falls for Veronique, she does not believe him. Braunberger noted it is one of Belmondo's "less well-known" films. The release coincides with the film's exhibition at the Paris Cinémathèque Française as part of the ongoing Belmondo retrospective.

Why do film libraries matter now?

Les Films du Jeudi owns a catalog of more than 400 films, built by founder Pierre Braunberger. That inventory has acquired fresh commercial weight. The Classic Film Market's Catalogue Holders' Premiere Presentation, where such slates debut, has become a favorite session at the event and was the first to fill up this year, according to market co-head Gérald Duchaussoy — a signal, he suggested, of the growing significance of film libraries.

What does this change for audiences? Four restored French classics gain new circulation paths: home video through Tamasa, retrospectives at the Cinémathèque Française and a 2027 theatrical window for Renoir's silent debut, giving viewers the sharpest presentation these titles have had in decades.