Rules of the Game

I don't know how many times now I've seen "Rules of the Game". I turn it on sometimes when I'm at a loss as to what to watch. One time I had it on and I don't think I spent very much time actually watching it, although my eyes perked up when a favorite moment or character turned up. "Rules of the Game" is just that kind of film which sneaks up at you, where you eventually discover its greatness.

I don't know much about the history of Jean Renoir's masterpiece, other than it premiered on the eve of the second world war with a scathing reception. The film was a box office flop in France and Renoir wouldn't make another film for a number of years.

When I first saw the film, I could imagine that reaction, I must admit I wasn't all that bowled over by it. The film seemed rather frivolous, it dealt with rich upper class people and their love lives, something I guess I didn't care much for. I watched the film expecting an equal to "Citizen Kane", but I left unimpressed. Of course I was young, inexperienced, what did I know? Enough time has passed, my sensibilities have changed since then, and I now feel a profound connection to this film.

"Rules of the Game" is a film that surprises you, it feels free yet was immaculately structured by Renoir who was one of the film geniuses of our time. The plot and the characters sometimes seem to get away from the viewer, but that's only because Renoir gives us so much to look at, it's a living mosaic of character, space, and movement.

The film deals with class, it's about not being able to express the emotions that are most precious to us. There are no main characters in the film, it's full of many stories of people who can express themselves openly to a fault, and those who fight against it to conform with their bourgeoisie lifestye.

We follow the case of unrequited love between a young aviator Andre Jurieu (Roland Toutain) who opens the film with returning from a solo flight across the Atlantic. Andre is welcomed back as a hero, but we find out the only reason he did it was to impress his lover Christine (Nora Gregor), a woman of class who does not seem to care much for Andre's affections at the beginning. Christine is married to Robert (Marcel Dalio), a man who is carrying on his own affair, but after hearing Andre's confession of love to his wife, he decides to stay loyal to Christine.

After this set up, the majority of the plot takes place on Robert's country estate as he invites guests on a hunting weekend. Andre is invited thanks to the persistence of a mutual friend Octave (Renoir). The games man of the estate is introduced as the husband of Christine's maid servant Lisette; the gamesmen catches a poacher named Marceau and Robert hires him on as part of the house staff; it isn't soon until Marceau goes after Lisette, causing the games man to get violently jealous. While all this is going on, the drama between Christine, Robert, and Andre is being played out, but Renoir counters their refined manner to the almost slapstick behavior of the servants.

"Rules of the Game" perhaps does the biggest balancing act of tone than any other film, it goes from drama, to comedy, to satire, to tragedy, but it's all held together so effortlessly.

The film came out two years before "Citizen Kane", which is a film that is notable for Orson Welles' use of depth of field, however Renoir beat Welles to the punch. Renoir's effect in this film is being able to show the various characters filling the space in a way that has not been achieved before. Several scenes are shown in wide shot to display a labyrinth of situations being played before your eyes. Renoir has full control of the scene, but by using this technique, your eye may wonder from one point of the screen to another. It's all so precise, it gives the viewer so much to look at, the foreground, middleground, and background all work to become three dimensional.

Renoir's camera feels as if it is gliding through the space seamlessly as if capturing a moment of these characters lives, almost as a juxtaposition to the style of Ozu who usually keeps his camera motionless, but the effect is still the same.

"Rules of the Game" isn't just great because of its technique, Renoir was trying to capture a certain time and feeling in France at the time, he wanted to explore the bourgeois sensibility. Although the film was unfairly maligned at its premier with accusations aimed toward Renoir for making a film that makes fun of the upper class, I found the film to be the opposite. The thing I missed the first time viewing this film was Renoir's humanity towards his characters, I don't think he judges them, but perhaps he judges their society. Renoir handles his characters with loving affection, no one is evil or sinister, yet they must keep their emotions in tact, they must refrain from their true feelings, that is the morality they live it, that is the rules of the game.

Watching the film again, I was amazed at some of the new surprises I saw, there is so much to see, it's impossible to get the entire story, and the seamless organization of every shot in one sitting. Renoir respected his audiences by not showing everything as it was the first time, he didn't spell anything out, we are meant to make up our own mind, there are only a small amount of filmmakers today who have that kind of trust. Renoir was one of the great humanists of cinema, he and his films are much loved today, and will continue to be as long as celluloid can continue to be seen.