The Rules of the Game Movie Review

Remember this when you read a book of reviews or even a single review, really. When The Rite of Spring was first performed in 1913, with its composer in attendance, it was BOOED! Quite rightly, Igor Stravinsky, then 31, said, “Go to Hell!” and kept right on being Igor Stravinsky for another 58 years. When The Rules of the Game first premiered in 1939, it, too, was booed! Even worse, it was banned for 20 years. Only when it was politically safe for the world to appreciate The Rules of the Game was it finally recognized as Jean Renoir's masterpiece. What do audiences and reviewers know about cutting edge art that addresses the world in a way that is new, uncomfortable, and even threatening? We're none of us omniscient prophets. After the rise to power of the National Socialists in 1933 and the signing of the Munich Pact in the fall of 1938, you didn't have to be an omniscient prophet to see what was happening in Europe. No one wanted war, and Jean Renoir (1894–1979) was not a politician, but a deeply concerned writer and director. He decided to address the pre-war atmosphere in a film with satire, violence, comedy, and death. Marcel Dalio, who played the croupier in Casablanca four years later, is the amiable Marquis de la Chesnaye, who presides over the aristocratic game players at the Chateau la Coliniere, and a lying, cheating lot they are, too. Empty courtesies are paramount in this amoral playground where truth and honor have no place. Only a few conduct themselves according to clashing ethical codes that are clearly outdated. French audiences resented Renoir's social critique and they detested The Rules of the Game. Renoir, who had made an honest film in an essentially dishonest era, tried hard to edit and revise the film, but nothing would have helped at that point. The film was finally banned and the negative was destroyed when the laboratory in which it was stored was hit by allied bombers. Jacques Durand and Jean Gaborit painstakingly restored the film, which is why we're lucky enough to enjoy this unique treasure today. AKA: Le Regle du Jeu.

1939 110m/B Marcel Dalio, Nora Gregor, Jean Renoir, Mila Parely, Julien Carette, Gaston Modot, Roland Toutain, Paulette Dubost, Odette Talazac; D: Jean Renoir; W: Jean Renoir. VHS, LV, 8mm