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The Rules of the Game, 1939
The lives of several upper-class people and their servants get increasingly fraught as various romantic entanglements complicate a vacation weekend at a sprawling estate. Famous pilot Andre (Roland Toutain) lusts after Christine (Nora Gregor). Christine's husband Robert (Marcel Dalio) is aware of the affair, and is having his own side relationship with Genevieve (Mila Parély). Christine's servant, Lisette (Paulette Dubost) is married to Schumacher (Gaston Modot), but a new employee, Marceau (Julien Carette) actively pursues Lisette once they arrive at the estate.
It took a little bit for me to catch the rhythm of this film, which sets up characters and a setting that feel predictable and well-worn, but then decelerates the expected plot points. All of the sneaking around--or not sneaking around-- is part of the game. But the characters don't seem to do it all that well. Marceau chases a shrieking and giggling Lisette around the kitchen . . . until he falls and all of a sudden it isn't so fun anymore. Christine accidentally catches sight of an intimate moment between Robert and Genevieve . . . and then bluntly tells Genevieve that it's okay and she doesn't need to leave the estate.
I read Ebert's review, where he suggests that the romances (the "game") between the characters are meant as a distraction from the looming international conflict about to take place. While I didn't pick up on that aspect, it does seem clear that the characters are trying to distract themselves from something, which I simply took to be a lack of purpose. The upper class characters, particularly, just don't seem to have a lot going on. Andre has his aviator career, but his passion and the clumsy expression of it sets him a bit apart from the others.
Everything feels a bit off, and that seems to be the point. In theory these characters have it all: money, spouses, lovers. But there seems to be little genuine joy. In a central, horrifying sequence, the characters go hunting together, gunning down birds and rabbits. It's a brutal massacre, and the last shot has barely been fired before the characters seem totally over it. A bit of pain and death as a diversion, but the high of it doesn't even last ten minutes.
The most joyful and elegant sequence in the film is a show and masquerade put on in the mansion in the evening. It's the most invigorating sequence for the character and for the movie's audience. While they get to play at being someone else, the characters are genuinely smiling.
Eventually, though, there is tragedy. And it isn't because of the games, but rather because the party includes a few characters who don't follow the "rules". Just like what happens in most of the film, the tragedy is senseless.
Without a strong narrative through-line, this seems like the kind of film that might need a second viewing to grasp all of what is happening, especially visually. The cast of characters is huge, and there are often many people on screen at the same time. Certainly a very interesting film.
The Rules of the Game, 1939
The lives of several upper-class people and their servants get increasingly fraught as various romantic entanglements complicate a vacation weekend at a sprawling estate. Famous pilot Andre (Roland Toutain) lusts after Christine (Nora Gregor). Christine's husband Robert (Marcel Dalio) is aware of the affair, and is having his own side relationship with Genevieve (Mila Parély). Christine's servant, Lisette (Paulette Dubost) is married to Schumacher (Gaston Modot), but a new employee, Marceau (Julien Carette) actively pursues Lisette once they arrive at the estate.
It took a little bit for me to catch the rhythm of this film, which sets up characters and a setting that feel predictable and well-worn, but then decelerates the expected plot points. All of the sneaking around--or not sneaking around-- is part of the game. But the characters don't seem to do it all that well. Marceau chases a shrieking and giggling Lisette around the kitchen . . . until he falls and all of a sudden it isn't so fun anymore. Christine accidentally catches sight of an intimate moment between Robert and Genevieve . . . and then bluntly tells Genevieve that it's okay and she doesn't need to leave the estate.
I read Ebert's review, where he suggests that the romances (the "game") between the characters are meant as a distraction from the looming international conflict about to take place. While I didn't pick up on that aspect, it does seem clear that the characters are trying to distract themselves from something, which I simply took to be a lack of purpose. The upper class characters, particularly, just don't seem to have a lot going on. Andre has his aviator career, but his passion and the clumsy expression of it sets him a bit apart from the others.
Everything feels a bit off, and that seems to be the point. In theory these characters have it all: money, spouses, lovers. But there seems to be little genuine joy. In a central, horrifying sequence, the characters go hunting together, gunning down birds and rabbits. It's a brutal massacre, and the last shot has barely been fired before the characters seem totally over it. A bit of pain and death as a diversion, but the high of it doesn't even last ten minutes.
The most joyful and elegant sequence in the film is a show and masquerade put on in the mansion in the evening. It's the most invigorating sequence for the character and for the movie's audience. While they get to play at being someone else, the characters are genuinely smiling.
Eventually, though, there is tragedy. And it isn't because of the games, but rather because the party includes a few characters who don't follow the "rules". Just like what happens in most of the film, the tragedy is senseless.
Without a strong narrative through-line, this seems like the kind of film that might need a second viewing to grasp all of what is happening, especially visually. The cast of characters is huge, and there are often many people on screen at the same time. Certainly a very interesting film.