After the success of La grande illusione (1937) and L'angelo del male (1938), Jean Renoir and his nephew Claude Renoir set up their own production company, Les Nouvelles Editions Françaises (NEF). This was their first and last production, as the company went into bankruptcy and was dissolved due to the ban of their movie after just three weeks of shows.
The fact the movie was a complete failure when it came out in 1939 is partly a myth. The Distributor (Gaumont) was uncomfortable with the theme even before the premiere. Attendance was low, but it was summer in Paris. There was turmoil around the movie, conducing to public violent reception of it - whistling, booing, fighting among spectators, one viewer lighting matches to a newspaper trying to burn the theater down, and threats to other theaters. Renoir himself thought it was a complete flop, mainly impressed by a few hostile reactions he saw first hand during the projections. His film was banned, but so were 57 other movies, such as Carné's famous Il porto delle nebbie (1938) and Alba tragica (1939). The critical reception was balanced: a study showed about a third were positive, a third negative and a third reserved.
One of two movies that has generally been in the top 10 of Sight & Sound's recurring poll "The Greatest Films of All Time": #10 (1952), #3 (1962), #2 (1972), #2 (1982), #2 (1992), #3 (2002), #4 (2012). 2022 was the first time it fell out of the top 10, landing at #13. Quarto potere (1941), the other, was #11 in 1952, though it was #1 from 1962 to 2002. It lost that #1 ranking in 2012 (#2), and 2022 (#3).
Chosen as one of the "100 Movies That Shook the World" by Premiere magazine, October 1998 issue. The rank was about the most "daring movies ever made."
Ranked number 5 non-English-speaking film in the critics' poll conducted by the BBC in 2018.