Yes, but probably I would have appreciated it more if it would not have been my first encounter with Renoir. Thus I felt a bit lost sometimes. And I missed both documentaries myself, so there is no need to be jealous (and they were shown in the original french version without subtitles - Je ne comprends pas...). But A's encouragement helped a lot. Fortunately, he ordered the 3-Disc-Set by Lions Gate you and wpqx recommended to him. 

He's also raving about Olaf Mller a lot - I never heard of him before but it seems that I simply have to check out some of his work in the future - and it's intriguing that he likes "Monpti" that much . It was a huge success at the time of its release but never became a real cult classic and was always flogged by critics who called it "Kitsch", "Clich" or naive. That's all nonsense if you ask me. The film itself has both a very emotional, aspirative and dreamlike - though modern - side (I wonder if Paul Verhoeven saw it before he made "Turkish Delight"), and a hidden face showing some abstract social criticism. And of course it has a very young, sweet and stunning Romy Schneider. When I saw it the first time on television 6 years ago, I cried almost one hour because of the tragic ending. When I saw it a second time it became even better (though I didn't cry this time). I'm hoping for all of you that Criterion, Wellspring, Kino or another similar company will pick it up one day. It absolutely deserves a release, as it is one of the most important and ambitious "commercial" German films of the 50ies (I'm almost jealous - most people outside of Austria and Germany hardly know how terrible and plain German cinema was during the 50ies). It's availabe on DVD over here, but as usual, without English subtitles. Hopefully it'll be mine very soon.

And about Catherine Hessling... So it seems that she really had some bits of the jealous "bitch" she played in "Nana" in her. I know that she didn't really overact but it is absolutely over the top nevertheless. Some moments made me open my eyes wide saying to myself: "Oh my god, I've never seen anything quite like that, how hysterical, incredible, more impressive than any special effect!". Almost a female Klaus Kinski and sort of a strongly spiced preview of Vivien Leigh's awful (though much more reserved) performance in "Gone with the Wind". 

Now i'll try to complete my own retrospective and watch "The Great Illusion" soon.