Picnic on the Grass: Jean Renoir’s sweet-natured sexual satire can get a tad heavy-handed and exaggerated every once in a while, but it presents a good case against a rational approach to matters of the heart. That depends, in great measure, on the sweetness and voluptuousness of Catherine Rouvel; the liveliness makes a great contrast to the stiffness of Paul Meurisse’s character and his clan. Both performances are one-noted but relatively efficient for what they were trying to achieve. The film’s idyllic setting, charmingly captured by the director of photography Georges Leclerc, and visually makes a convincing case for nature against industry. Costumes, their colors and styles also help to create those two opposing worlds and ideologies.