The Rules of the Game (1939)

Directed by Jean Renoir. Starring Marcel Dalio, Nora Gregor, Paulette Dubost, Julien Carette, Gaston Modot, Jean Renoir, Roland Toutain, Mila Parély, Anne Mayen, Pierre Magnier.

Renoir’s ensemble comedy of manners (or not one, per the insistence of the opening titles) is a pointed satire and farce de tragédie that was lambasted by many local critics upon release, a self-incriminating brand of hostile reception that said more about those excoriating it than the film itself. The story, depicting the French upper-class in modern society (the eve of World War II) as indulgent fools, and those beneath them as being equally foolish for playing their games, takes place during a weekend retreat in the country where most everyone is involved in some sort of liaison with someone else, and with jealousy and mistaken identities running rampant, it’s bound to end poorly for one or more of them. Smoothly performed and largely improvised by the cast; the camerawork, fluid and capable of striking focal cues in deep focus shots, is a subdued triumph. The film’s complexity occasionally swerves into congestion, which can spell doom for light comedy (even those with knives out), but Renoir corrects the imbalances with speed almost each time, and familiarity from revisits helps clear out the clutter. Edited by almost a half-hour after the disastrous first run and much of the cut material was nearly lost during the war; it did not arrive in the US until 1950, and the version most commonly seen today is still missing a few minutes from the original edit.

89/100