[4.5] House Party With No Kid but Everybodys Playing. Criterion Features Below.
On the back of the Criterion dvd it says the The Rules of the Game is a scathing critique of corrupt French society cloaked in a comedy of manners. I would agree. For the average film viewer picture a classier artier version of the Nichols directed movie Closer (Superbit Edition) with more underlying messages of society and less a character study on love and sex. They are similar because in both movies there is deception and this person is hooking up with this one and so on but there is no real love. Whether they do it out of boredom or pure animal instinct and try to use love as an excuse for their actions. The movie also takes some shots at the media as one character points out how all these important people on television lie why shouldn't the simple people. The movie says a lot and could generate a different perspective to each viewer which makes it great by transcending being pigeonholed into a genre. Simply giving a plot description would be cheating it. All this funny business takes place at a weekend hunting party where the only thing separating the guests from the game they're hunting are the rules.

TONS of Criterion Features (from the back of the dvd)
Disc 1 - New HD transfer with restored image and sound
-Intro to the film by Jean Renoir
-Audio comment written by film scholar Alexander Sesonske and read by filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich
-Version comparison side by side analysis of the two endings of the film, along with an illustrated study of Renoir's shotting script
-Selected scene analysis by Renoir historian Christopher Falkner

Disc II
Excerpts from Renoir, le patron: La regle et l' exception (1966) a french tv program dir. by Jacques Rivette
-Part I of Renoir, a II part 1993 BBC doc by David Thompson, featuring reflections on Renoir from his family, friends, collaborators, and admirers.
-New video essay about the films production, release, and later reconstruction
-Jean Gaborit and Jacques Durand discuss their recon and re release of the film
-New interview with Renoir's son, Alain, an assistant cameraman on the film
New Int with Rules set designer Max Douy
-1995 int w/ actress Mia Parely
-Written tributes to the film and Renoir by J. Hoberman, Kent Jones, Paul Schrader, Wim Wenders and Others

*24 Page booklet featuring writings by Jean Renoir, Francois Truffaut, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bertrand Tavemier, and an essay by Alexander Sesonske.

The Rules of Renoir.
The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)

As I'm only approaching forty, I find it quite difficult to look at this film from the historical perspective with which most critics frame it; after all, I wouldn't be born for almost thirty years after the film's initial release. But, unlike a number of movies for which historical context seems important, I can't say, after reading a number of reviews and articles about it, that missing all that context seems to have damaged my perception of the film; as I see it, the movie stands on its own, historical context or no. Why? Because it's blamed funny, that's why.

Renoir's satirical look at class warfare in pre-WW2 France holds up because, well, there will always be class warfare, and the haves will always see themselves as superior to the have-nots, and from that standpoint, it's universal. In this case, the haves are going to a weekend hunting party at the country estate of Cheyniest (Marcel Dalio), and bringing most of the have-nots, their servants. The catalyst to everything that follows is Cheyniest's impulsive hiring of Marceau (Julien Carette), a local who is caught poaching rabbits on Cheyniest's land. He refuses to play by the unwritten rules of the haves and the have-nots, and anarchy ensues.

Renoir, of course, had a flair for the absurd a mile wide, and even in his most subtle moments, he's painting with it. ("It breaks my heart, but I cannot expose the guests to your firearms.") And this is where The Rules of the Game, in my estimation, differs from its far more recent heir, Robert Altman's Gosford Park-- that film takes itself far too seriously on every level, where Renoir always leavens his deeper, angrier meanings with laughter. Where Altman sprawls, Renoir focuses in with laser precision, turning away from nothing, examining every detail of every scene. (The unveiling of the clockwork calliope, it is revealed in the DVD extras, took two days of shooting because Renoir wanted to get Dalio's expression perfect; Renoir says it was the best scene he ever shot.)

A fine, fine piece of work, whether you recognize the historical significance or not. ****

Rules of the Game
Director Renoir's scathing critique of French social conventions and hypocrisy caused quite a stir on release, and it's not hard to see why. A bit too clever and close to home for its time, the film's sublime satire has a cutting edge, as both masters and servants fixate on trivialities and behave foolishly, while all around them, Rome burns- or is it Paris? (Only a year after the film's release, the Nazis would occupy France). This is one game still worth playing.

quick note on the subtitles
The folks at "Criterion Collection" sure do go out of their way to tout their products -- such as this release of Renoir's immortal "Rules of the Game" -- as being the alpha and omega of DVD releases.

This two-disc set sure has a lot of extras bundled in, but I'm disappointed in one major category: although you can get the English subtitles off the screen, you cannot have it display French subtitles, in case you're passable at French or would like to clarify or improve something.

There is quite the literate commentary track in English, however, although the movie has not been dubbed into English on any audio track. Be aware that the commentary is not "live:" it's someone reading an academic essay. (Peter Bogdanovich reading an appreciation by Alexander Sesonske.)

Who says the French are boring?
Asinine comments such as "The French are boring and do not know how to entertain us" (this from a Finn, of all people) or the predictable "It's the French, what can I say?" perfectly illustrate this false perception of French films being "boring" and "self-absorbed". French films like this one and countless others have not only been praised by some of the best directors in the world - from Scorcese to Kurosawa, - but hugely influential as well. Broadway-adapted French classics such as "The Fanthom Of The Opera", "Beauty And The Beast", "Les Miserables" and "Notre Dame De Paris" have entertained millions (and made many wealthy) to this day. So who says the French - who by the way invented Cinema - are boring?