"Only one thing matters to me - what I create. And what do I create? You! Her!"
So says dancehall proprietor and showman Danglard (Jean Gabin) as he delivers a rebuke/pep talk to his top dancer Nini, which simultaneously saddens her and reignites her desire to dance. Flanked by the dancers he has groomed, he is the artist as dictator, taking the raw talent of others and molding it to his specific vision. He also might very well be speaking for writer-director Jean Renoir, who dreamed "of a craftsman's cinema in which the author can express himself as directly as the painter in his paintings or the writer in his books." The son of the painter Auguste Renoir, he made some of cinema's greatest works in prewar Europe before taking his skills to America where his films debuted to mixed reviews. Facing limitations while trusting his own talents - and having experience with the Impressionist aesthetic - Renoir was uniquely suited to this film.