Toni [Criterion Collection] Blu-ray]

"After completing his successful Madame Bovary (34), director Jean Renoir could have had the pick of France's top ""name"" actors for his 1935 film Toni, but chose instead to use nonprofessionals. The plot was based on a true story, brought to Renoir's attention by the sheriff of the village where it occurred. The story is the basic ""good man destroyed by bad woman"" conceit: An Italian laborer sets the gears in motion for Zola-esque tragedy by falling in love with a young woman, who then ...