Sight & Sound Poll 2012: The Rules of the Game
October 18, 2012
Film Info
- France
- 1939
- 106 minutes
- Black and White
- 1.33:1
- French
- Spine #216
Considered one of the greatest films ever made, The Rules of the Game (La règle du jeu), by Jean Renoir, is a scathing critique of corrupt French society cloaked in a comedy of manners in which a weekend at a marquis’ country château lays bare some ugly truths about a group of haut bourgeois acquaintances. The film has had a tumultuous history: it was subjected to cuts after the violent response of the premiere audience in 1939, and the original negative was destroyed during World War II; it wasn’t reconstructed until 1959. That version, which has stunned viewers for decades, is presented here.
Cast
| Marquis Robert de La Chesnaye | Marcel Dalio |
| Christine de La Chesnaye | Nora Gregor |
| André Jurieux | Roland Toutain |
| Octave | Jean Renoir |
| Geneviève de Marras | Mila Parély |
| Charlotte de La Plante | Odette Talazac |
| The general | Pierre Magnier |
| M. de Saint-Aubin | Pierre Nay |
| La Bruyère | Richard Francœur |
| Mme La Bruyère | Claire Gérard |
| Jackie | Anne Mayen |
| Lisette | Paulette Dubost |
| Schumacher | Gaston Modot |
| Marceau | Julien Carette |
| Corneille | Eddy Debray |
| Cook | Léon Larive |
| Radio reporter | Lise Élina |
| English domestic | Henri Cartier-Bresson |
Credits
| Director | Jean Renoir |
| Producer | Claude Renoir Sr. |
| Screenplay | Jean Renoir |
| with the collaboration of | Carl Koch |
| Dialogue | Jean Renoir |
| Assistant director | André Zwobada and Henri Cartier-Bresson |
| Director of photography | Jean Bachelet |
| Cinematography | Jacques Lemare, Jean-Paul Alphen and Alain Renoir |
| Production design | Eugène Lourié and Max Douy |
| Editing | Marguerite Renoir |
| Assistant editor | Marthe Huguet |
| Sound | Joseph de Bretagne |
| Still photography | Sam Lévin |
| Music | Mozart, Monsigny, Salabert, Saint-Saëns and Chopin |
| Music arranged by | Roger Désormière and Joseph Kosma |
| Production manager | Pillon |
| Administration | Camille François |
| Costumes | Chanel |
Disc Features
- High-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
- Introduction to the film by director Jean Renoir
- Audio commentary written by film scholar Alexander Sesonske and read by filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich
- Comparison of the film’s two endings
- Selected-scene analysis by Renoir historian Chris Faulkner
- Excerpts from Jean Renoir, le patron: La Règle et l’exception (1966), a French television program by filmmaker Jacques Rivette
- Part one of Jean Renoir, a two-part 1993 BBC documentary by film critic David Thompson
- Video essay about the film’s production, release, and 1959 reconstruction
- Interview with film critic Olivier Curchod
- Interview from a 1965 episode of the French television series Les écrans de la ville in which Jean Gaborit and Jacques Durand discuss their reconstruction and rerelease of the film
- Interviews with set designer Max Douy, Renoir’s son, Alain; and actress Mila Parély
- PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by Sesonske; writings by Jean Renoir, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bertrand Tavernier, and François Truffaut; and tributes to the film by J. Hoberman, Kent Jones, Paul Schrader, Wim Wenders, Robert Altman, and others
New cover by Edward Sorel
Current Posts
Clippings
On Five
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Features
The Rules of the Game: Tributes
November 16, 2011
The Rules of the Game is one of the best-loved films of all time. The following is a selection of tributes to it from writers and directors, originally included in the 2004 Criterion DVD . . . Read more »
Film Essays
The Rules of the Game: Everyone Has Their Reasons
By November 15, 2011
By February 1939, it no longer seemed evident that the surrender of Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler at Munich had “saved the peace.” A sense of doom was beginning to hang over Europe. In this . . . Read more »
Photo Galleries
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Revival Meeting
November 17, 2010
Our friend and coworker Sarah Finklea, of Janus Films, was one of a handful of industry experts asked by Moviemaker magazine to participate in an online roundtable about the importance and . . . Read more »
Clippings
Film Essays
The Rules of the Game: Everyone Has Their Reasons
By November 15, 2011
By February 1939, it no longer seemed evident that the surrender of Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler at Munich had “saved the peace.” A sense of doom was beginning to hang over Europe. In this . . . Read more »
Clippings
On Five
Photo Galleries
Features
The Rules of the Game: Tributes
November 16, 2011
The Rules of the Game is one of the best-loved films of all time. The following is a selection of tributes to it from writers and directors, originally included in the 2004 Criterion DVD . . . Read more »
Film Essays
The Rules of the Game: Everyone Has Their Reasons
By November 15, 2011
By February 1939, it no longer seemed evident that the surrender of Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler at Munich had “saved the peace.” A sense of doom was beginning to hang over Europe. In this . . . Read more »
Photo Galleries
Clippings
Revival Meeting
November 17, 2010
Our friend and coworker Sarah Finklea, of Janus Films, was one of a handful of industry experts asked by Moviemaker magazine to participate in an online roundtable about the importance and . . . Read more »
Clippings
The Rules According to Bertolucci
March 03, 2010
The Guardian has begun an exciting new short essay series called The Film That Changed My Life, and the first entry brings together two titans of cinema history. Bernardo Bertolucci writes . . . Read more »
