The Rules of the Game
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| The Rules of the Game | |
 original movie poster |
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| Directed by | Jean Renoir |
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| Written by | Jean Renoir Carl Koch |
| Starring | Nora Gregor Paulette Dubost Marcel Dalio Jean Renoir Julien Carette |
| Music by | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (opening) Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny Roger Désormières (arranger) |
| Cinematography | Jean-Paul Alphen Jean Bachelet |
| Editing by | Marthe Huguet Marguerite Renoir |
| Distributed by | Janus Films (US) |
| Release date(s) | 8 July 1939 |
| Running time | 110 min |
| Language | French |
| Budget | FRF 5,500,500 |
The Rules of the Game (original French title: La Règle du jeu, "the rule of the game") is a 1939 film directed by Jean Renoir about upper-class French society just before the start of World War II. Renoir's film is in part an adaptation of Alfred de Musset's Les Caprices de Marianne, a popular 19th-century comedy of manners; Renoir takes the film far beyond the pleasantries of a typical comedy of manners, creating instead a biting and tragic satire that captured the frenetic emotions of France on the cusp of World War II.
The Rules of the Game is often cited as one of the greatest films in the history of cinema. A poll of critics from the British Film Institute ranked The Rules of the Game as the third greatest film ever, placing behind Citizen Kane and Vertigo.[1]
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[edit] Plot
The film begins with the aviator André Jurieux landing at Le Bourget Airfield just outside Paris, France. He is greeted by his friend, Octave, who reveals that Christine, the woman André loves, has not come to the airfield to greet him. André is heartbroken. When a radio reporter comes to broadcast his first words upon landing, he explains his sorrow and denounces the woman who has spurned him. Christine, an Austrian, is listening to the broadcast from her apartment in Paris as she is attended by her maid, Lisette. Christine has been married to Robert de la Chesnaye for three years. Lisette has been married to Schumacher, the gamekeeper at the country estate, for two years, but she is more devoted to Madame Christine. Christine's past relationship with André is openly known by her husband, her maid, and their friend Octave. After Christine and Robert playfully discuss André's emotional display and pledge devotion to one another, Robert excuses himself to make a phone call. He arranges to meet Geneviève, his mistress, the next morning.
At Geneviève's apartment, Robert announces he must end their relationship, but invites her to join them for a weekend retreat to Robert and Christine's country estate, La Colinière, in Sologne. Later, Octave induces Robert to invite André to the country as well. They joke that André and Geneviève will pair off and solve everyone's problems. At the estate, Schumacher is policing the grounds, trying to get rid of rabbits. Marceau, a poacher, sneaks onto the grounds to retrieve a rabbit caught in one of his snares. Before he can get away, Schumacher catches him and begins to march him off the property when Robert demands to know what is going on. Marceau explains that he can catch rabbits, and Robert offers him a job as a servant. Once inside the house, Marceau flirts with Schumacher's wife, Lisette.
At a masquerade ball, various romantic liaisons are made. In the estate's dark, secluded greenhouse, Octave declares that he, too, loves Christine and they impulsively decide to run away together. Schumacher and Marceau, who have both been expelled from the estate, observe the greenhouse scene and mistake Christine for Schumacher's wife, Lisette, because Christine is wearing Lisette's cape and hood. Octave momentarily returns to the house and, while there, Lisette talks him out of running off with Christine. Consequently, he sends André to meet Christine. When André reaches the greenhouse, Schumacher mistakes him for Octave, who he believes is going to steal his wife. He shoots and kills André, which Robert subsequently explains to his guests as an "accident".
[edit] Reception
The film was initially condemned for its satire on the French upper classes and was greeted with derision by a Parisian crowd on its première. The upper class is depicted in this film as capricious and self-indulgent, with little regard for the consequences of their actions. The French government banned it,[2] but after the War it has come to be seen by many film critics and directors as one of the greatest films of all time.[3] Critics placing it at the top of their lists include Nick Roddick,[4] Paul Schrader,[5] and Bertrand Tavernier.[6]
[edit] Edit after the Premiere and restoration in 1959
Renoir was deeply hurt by the initial reception and edited the movie from 113 minutes to 80 soon after the premiere. He reduced the role of Octave, which he played, including Octave's brief infatuation with Christine during the ending. The omission of this complication during the ending gave rise to the notion of a "second ending". The film was restored to 106 minutes in 1959 with Renoir's approval and advice. One scene not located was Lisette talking about affairs among the maid staff.
[edit] Style
The Rules of the Game is noted for its use of deep focus so that events going on in the background are as important as those in the foreground. In a 1954 interview with Jacques Rivette and François Truffaut, reprinted in Jean Renoir: Interviews, Renoir said "Working on the script inspired me to make a break and perhaps get away from naturalism completely, to try to touch on a more classical, more poetic genre." He admitted that he wrote and rewrote it several times, often abandoning his original intentions altogether upon interaction with the actors having witnessed reactions that he hadn't foreseen. As a director he sought to "get closer to the way in which characters can adapt to their theories in real life while being subjected to life’s many obstacles that keep us from being theoretical and from remaining theoretical".[citation needed]
The film's style has had an impact on numerous filmmakers. One example is Robert Altman, whose Gosford Park copies many of Rules of the Game's plot elements (a story of aristocrats in the country, aristocrats and their servants, murder) and pays homage with a direct reference to the infamous hunting scene, or "la chasse", in which no one moves but the help.
[edit] Cast
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[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten/poll/critics.html
- ^ John Kobal, John Kobal Presents the Top 100 Films. New York: New American Library (1988): 11. "The chauvinistic French public hated the thought of French aristocrats with Jewish parents and German wives. ... Attempts were made to burn down the cinema where it was screened, and it was finally banned. The Nazis maintained the ban."
- ^ (Kobal, 1988): 10 - 11. Kobal's list, culled from lists by more than eighty critics, places this film at No. 2, after Citizen Kane.
- ^ (Kobal, 1988): 141
- ^ Paul Schrader, "Canon Fodder" Film Comment Sept./Oct. 2006: 14
- ^ (Kobal, 1988): 143
[edit] External links
Informational
- The Rules of the Game at the Internet Movie Database
- The Rules of the Game at Allmovie
- Janus Films — trailer.
- Complete film online at LikeTelevision
Criticism
