CriterionForum.org :: Info for The Rules of the Game

Widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, Jean Renoir's masterpiece The Rules of the Game is a scathing critique of corrupt French society cloaked in a comedy of manners. At a weekend hunting party, amorous escapades abound among the aristocratic guests and are mirrored by the activites of the servants downstairs. The refusal of one of the guests to play by society's rules sets off a chain of events that ends in tragedy. Poorly received upon its release in 1939, the film was severely re-edited, and the original negative was destroyed during World War II. Only in 1959 was the film fully reconstructed and embraced by audiences and critics who now see it as a timeless representation of a vanishing way of life.

Supplements

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 two endings of the film, along with 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, featuring reflections on Renoir from his family, friends, collaborators, and admirers
New video essay about the film's production, release, and later reconstruction
Jean Gaborit and Jacques Durand discuss their reconstruction and re-release of the film
New interview with Renoir's son, Alain, an assistant cameraman on the film
New interview with The Rules of the Game set designer Max Douy
1995 interview with actress Mila Parély
Written tributes to the film and Renoir by François Truffaut, Paul Schrader, Bertrand Tavernier, Wim Wenders and others

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