So many pyramids of acclaim have been built around Jean Renoir, director of Grand Illusion, The Rules of the Game, and The River, that the man and his films often seem removed and sterile. But Renoir was a real entertainer as well as a major filmmaker; poignancy and comedy were of equal importance to him. Throwing off the shackles of austerity, Ronald Bergen has written an intimate biography of the filmmaker. He recounts the details of Renoir"s event-filled life in an easy, fluid style that makes this book easy to devour and hard to put down.