La Regle du jeu = Rules of the game

France, 1939

Film
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Renoir’s portrayal of a weekend house party in the country is, in effect, the portrayal of a society in crisis, a social world in which there are rules but no values. On the surface the film is a comedy of manners based on the tradition of 18th century French theatre. Its richness lies in the contrast between ambiguity and clarity, the elaborate parallelisms between groups and specific characters and a pathbreaking melange of stylistic techniques. Renoir ironically exposes the moral bankruptcy of this world while remaining consistent with the model of classical theatre in his deployment of closure. The film’s influence lies in Renoir’s modernism. In portraying life-as-flux he juxtaposes what in his hands are formal devices for openness (mobile camera, depth of field, use of off-screen space) with the closure of classical narrative implied by, for example, shot-counter-shot editing. Also available on VHS and LD.

Credits: Director, Jean Renoir ; producer, Claude Renoir ; photography, Jean Bachelet ; writers, Jean Renoir, Carl Koch ; music, Joseph Kosma, Roger Desormieres.
Cast: Marcel Dalio, Roland Toutain, Nora Gregor, Jean Renoir.

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

director

Jean Renoir

producer

Claude Renoir

production company

Nouvelle Edition Francaise

Duration

01:50:00:00

Production places
France
Production dates
1939

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

F000061

Languages

English

French

Subject category

Foreign language films

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Black and White

Holdings

16mm film; Limited Access Print (Section 2)

Wikidata

Q748599

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If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/115710/ |title=La Regle du jeu = Rules of the game |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=10 May 2024 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}