Jean Renoir
The Rules of the Game
La Regle du jeu
Summary
Andre Jurieu is an aviator that is in love with Christine. He confesses his love to her over the broadcast. She hears him say this on the air and goes to her husband, Robert de La Chesnaye to deny the whole story. He believes her and then makes a decision to break up with his mistress, Genevieve (Singerman, 98).
Andre is very upset after this scandalous indiscretion on the radio he attempts to committee suicide. His best friend Octave criticizes him because he does not know anything about the social elite and how they work. This announcement on the air was a horrendous scandal and Andre did not know this. Octave knew Christine as a child and convinces her and Robert to invite Andre with them to a hunting party in the country (Singerman, 98).
At the castle in the country a fight breaks out between game warden Schumacher and Marceau (who was poaching on his land). Robert solves the fight by giving Marceau a job at the castle. Andre is given a heroes welcome at the castle and Christine decides to deny their love even more but no one really believes her. Robert is very happy with this announcement and decides that after the hunt there will be a big party in Andre Juries' honor. A little flirting is also happening with Marceau (the new servant) and Lisette (Schumacher's husband) (Singerman, 98).
The next day is the hunt. This is an elaborate scene showing men chasing rabbits. After the hunt Robert tells Genevieve that the affair is over, she wanted one last embrace. As they embrace Christine sees this and gets the wrong impression. She is very jealous and decides to flirt with any suitor that comes along, at the party (Singerman, 98).
At the party Christine is flirting with Saint-Aubin as Andre Jurieu is jealously watching. Andre picks a fight with Saint-Aubin in front of everyone. Schumacher is trying to control his wife as she is flirting with Marceau when he catches them together in the kitchen. Schumacher takes several shots with his revolver at Marceau and Robert steps in to control the situation. Robert fires both Schumacher and Marceau on the spot. Robert then feels like Andre loves his wife more than he does and lets her go in his mind (Singerman, 99).
While this is all going on Christine went outside with Octave who then confesses his love for her. She immediately wanted to run away with him so he went inside to get his jacket. Schumacher and Marceau watch the two of them in the darkness and both become jealous, not knowing that Christine was dressed as her maid Lisette. When Octave goes inside to get his coat Lisette makes Octave realize that he is not right for Christine and Octave gives his coat to Andre and sends him to Christine in his place. Schumacher mistakes Andre for Octave and shoots him. Marceau and Octave leave the castle because they cannot believe what has happened. Robert convinces everyone that the death was a accident and that his warden just thought that he was poaching on the land (Singerman, 99).
My Perception
I really liked this film, it fit my expectations. Some parts I thought were going to be more interesting than the reading led on it would be. Such as the hunting scene, the book walked about how long it took to film this scene and the amount of energy that went into it. It sounded like the scene would be fantastic but it was just boring. Also I thought that Octave was a very funny character which surprised me. I really enjoyed the party scene. It was full of amazement and adventure. So many different things were happening at once. Lissette and Marceau were running away to flirt while being chased by Schumacher. Then Christine and Saint-Aubin were running around together until Andre and Saint-Aubin fought. The scene was hectic and so many different plots were happening at once it was exciting. One scene I did not like was the one where Robert realized how much he loves Christine, in the beginning. I thought they would of confessed their love more out-front, not just Christine saying “I trust you” and Robert calling off his affair. It was very disappointing.
What other Critics Said
This movie was rejected several times in the public's eyes in 1939. Many people found this to be scandalous and wrong while others thought it offended patriotism, it was incomprehensible, and some thought it was anti-Semitic. He tried to cut out the parts of the film that were thought of as bad. He made the movie from 1h50 to 1h25. These movies circulated and eventually some tried to piece back together the original movie. It wasn't until 1972 that the movie was ranked the second best film of all time (Singerman, 99).
Themes and Metaphors
High society is a major theme of this movie. The rules of high society is absolute discretion and protecting appearances, even by lying. Robert was cheating on Christine and when she found out by seeing their last embrace she stopped caring for Robert because he embarrassed her. He did not keep his relationship in complete secret. Also the idea of the relationship between a man and woman is relevant throughout the movie. Christine and Robert have many relationships with each other then with others, while even the servants are having relations with each other. This might be implying that love is universal and it is not just subject to high society. Christine makes a declaration in the movie where she announces “I am sick of this theater, Octave!” This is a metaphor that might means that she is tired of putting on a show and hiding so many secrets just so she does not become the center of gossip (Singerman, 105).
Style
Renoir shoots this film in deep focus to make everything dramatic. He liberates the actors to develop their characters freely. He uses pans and tracking shots to make the audience able to see the characters movements and to make editing the film easier. We can also see many striking sequence shots which shows the whole group and where they are (Singerman, 107).
One question that was asked to Jean Renoir was…
“What exactly will The Rules of the Game be?”
“A precise description of the bourgeois people of our times. I want to demonstrate that for every game there are rules. If you don’t follow the rules, you lose.”
(Singerman, 109)
Works Cited
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