The Rules of the Game

Jean Renoir

 
The Rules of the Game Criterion DVD

DVD

2 Discs

SRP: $39.95

Criterion Store price:$31.96

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  • France
  • 1939
  • 106 minutes
  • Black and White
  • 1.33:1
  • French

SYNOPSIS: Widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, Jean Renoir’s masterpiece The Rules of the Game (La Règle du jeu) is a scathing critique of corrupt French society cloaked in a comedy of manners. Although the original negative was destroyed during World War II, this edition features the fully reconstructed version embraced by audiences and critics around the world as a timeless representation of Renoir’s genius.

Cast & CreditsOpen

Cast

Christine de La ChesnayeNora Gregor
LisettePaulette Dubost
Geneviève de MarrasMila Parély
Charlotte de La PlanteOdette Talazac
OctaveJean Renoir
Marquis Robert de La ChesnayeMarcel Dalio
André JurieuRoland Toutain
SchumacherGaston Modot
The generalPierre Magnier
M. de Saint-AubinPierre Nay
La BruyèreRichard Francœur
Mme. la BruyèreClaire Gérard
JackieAnne Mayen
MarceauJulien Carette
CorneilleEddy Debray
The cookLéon Larive
Radio reporterLise Élina
English domesticHenri Cartier-Bresson

Credits

DirectorJean Renoir
ScreenplayJean Renoir and Carl Koch
DialogueJean Renoir
Director of photographyJean Bachelet
CinematographyJacques Lemare, Alain Renoir and Jean-Paul Alphen
ProducerClaude Renoir Sr.
Production designMax Douy and Eugene Lourie
EditingMarguerite Renoir
Assistant directorHenri Cartier-Bresson and André Zwobada
SoundJoseph de Bretagne
Still photographySam Lévin
MusicMozart, Monsigny, Salabert, Saint-Saëns and Chopin
Music arranged byRoger Désormières and Joseph Kosma
CostumesChanel
Production managerPillion
AdministrationCamille François

Disc Features

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET:

  • Restored high-definition digital transfer
  • Introduction to the film by Jean Renoir
  • Audio commentary written by film scholar Alexander Sesonske and read by filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich
  • Version comparison: side-by-side analysis of the film’s two endings, and an illustrated study of Renoir’s shooting script
  • Selected-scene analysis by Renoir historian Christopher Faulkner
  • Excerpts from Jean Renoir, le patron: La Règle et l’exception (1966), a French television program directed by Jacques Rivette
  • Part one of Jean Renoir, a two-part 1993 BBC documentary by David Thompson
  • Video essay about the film’s production, release, and later reconstruction
  • Jean Gaborit and Jacques Durand discuss their reconstruction and rerelease of the film
  • Interviews with Renoir’s son and assistant cameraman Alain Renoir, set designer Max Douy, and actress Mila Parély
  • Written tributes to the film and Renoir by J. Hoberman, Kent Jones,Paul Schrader, Wim Wenders and others
  • Improved English subtitle translation
  • Plus: A booklet featuring writings by Sesonske, Renoir, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bertrand Tavernier, and François Truffaut

From the CurrentView the Current »

Film Essays

The Rules of the Game:
Everyone Has Their Reasons

By Alexander SesonskeDecember 31, 2003

By February 1939 it no longer seemed evident that the surrender of Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler at Munich had “saved the peace.” Soon a sense Read more »

Videos

“A Human Comedy of Sorts”

Play The Rules of the Game