La regle du jeu
FR 110m Dir: Jean Renoir
This feels like a very different film to other Jean Renoir films I've seen. There's none of the beauty and the melancholy is hidden under the surface. Made at a time it was clear that war in Europe was coming, Renoir later called this a war film without reference to war.
It's an ensemble piece which sees the bourgeois and their staff descend on a country chateau. They hold a shooting event which sees them ruthlessly massacre the local wildlife before having a party. All the main characters are having affairs of one sort or another and tensions rise when said affairs are discovered.
It's a really hard film to pin down as one thing. It's very much a comedy and there are many elements of farce, especially when half the guests are chasing each other after discovering an affair. It is far more sophisticated than that though as it's a criticism of the upper class, showing their moral callousness. I also think it it's comparison of the upper classes and their servants, i.e. the working class, is interesting. The plot lines are much the same and the implication is that these two groups of people are more similar than either would like to admit. The difference is that the actions of the servants have consequences whereas the upper class can do what they like and get away with it.
I really didn't enjoy the long hunting sequence where we see many rabbits as well as various gamebirds be shot. It felt to me tasteless and unpleasant. On reflection, I realised that this was probably the point- the scene exists to show these qualities in the upper class. With war incoming, it also mirrors the senseless death of war that the upper class perpetrates.
Technically the film is also impressive too. Renoir employs a camera which is very kinetic, moving through rooms with characters and allowing characters to move from the background to the foreground of the scene. The sound work is also impressive for 1939- with so many characters there is lots of talking over each other which is well captured and there's plenty of ambient sound from the noise of people at the party to gunfire in the hunting sequence.
I feel like I may be reflecting on the film for some time. It is unquestionably well made and it works on so many levels, from a simple farce to a far more complicated critique of class in Europe and maybe even humanity in general. I suspect it will take a while for my brain to really process the complexities of this film but for now I'll settle with the fact that's its another Jean Renoir masterpiece.
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