Poetic realism was a film movement in France of the 1930s. More a tendency than a movement, poetic realism is not strongly unified like Soviet montage or French Impressionism but were individuals who created this lyrical style. Its leading filmmakers were Pierre Chenal, Jean Vigo, Julien Duvivier, Marcel Carné, and, perhaps the movement's most significant director, Jean Renoir. Renoir made a wide variety of films some influenced by the leftist Popular Front group and even a lyrical short feature film.Thompson, Kristin, Bordwell,David. (2010) Film History: An Introduction, Third Edition, New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies. p. 265-268 Frequent stars of these films were Jean Gabin, Michel Simon, Simone Signoret, and Michèle Morgan.
