Browse films Rate it on NextFilm
Poster for The River
U
Unrated

The River

1951 · 99 min

Drama, Romance

Director Jean Renoir’s entrancing first color feature—shot entirely on location in India—is a visual tour de force. Based on the novel by Rumer Godden, the film eloquently contrasts the growing pains of three young women with the immutability of the Bengal river around which their daily lives unfold. Enriched by Renoir’s subtle understanding and appreciation for India and its people, The River gracefully explores the fragile connections between transitory emotions and everlasting creation.

View on IMDb
Fast Slow
Dark Light

Appeals to viewers who savor lyrical visual storytelling, intimate emotional observation, and meditations on desire, change, and the rhythms of nature.

Tone
contemplative, melancholic, bittersweet
Payoff
reflection, heartbreak
Pacing
meditative
Intensity
gentle
Structure
linear
Themes
coming of age, first love, impermanence, cultural encounter, cycles of life
Setting
mid-twentieth-century colonial India, riverside household and surrounding village

Content dimensions

No content ratings yet for this movie.

IMDb parental guide

Where to watch

Stream
HBO Max Amazon Channel
Criterion Channel
HBO Max
Rent
Apple TV Store
Amazon Video
Fandango At Home
Buy
Apple TV Store
Amazon Video
Fandango At Home
Provided by JustWatch JustWatch Logo