Renoir's famous and controversial comedy of manners has a troubled history. Victor Perkins presents here a sensitive socio-historical study of Renoir's revised edition of the film, released 20 years after its premiere; shaped by the profundity and originality of its form.

V.F. Perkins is Honorary Professor of Film Studies at Warwick University. His film criticism includes the books Film as Film (1972) and the volume on Orson Welles's The Magnificent Ambersons, also in the BFI Film Classics series (1999).