In mid-1959, Renoir saw the reconstructed version of the film for the first time and left the theater in tears. He said "there is only one scene missing in this re-construction, a scene that isn't very important. It's a scene with me and Roland Toutain that deals with the maids' sexual interest." The restored version premiered at the 1959 Venice Film Festival, where it was called a masterpiece. Claude Chabrol, Alain Resnais and Louis Malle were all in attendance and publicly called Renoir their master while praising the reconstructed version of the film. In 1961 Howard Thompson of the "New York Times" stated the film "completely justified its European reputation ... is a memorable experience." Archer Winsten of the "New York Post" praised the film for "showing the corruption of French society from top to bottom" and a "New York Herald Tribune" review called it "a satire on French society ... a sharp criticism of social pretenses." The reconstructed version of the film was exhibited in France on April 23, 1965. It won the 1966 Bodil Award for Best Non-American Film/Best European Film (Bedste europæiske film) in Denmark.