alr

A Tribute to Steve Livernash
The Rules of the Game
(La Règle du jeu)

Screening on Film
Free Admission
Directed by Jean Renoir.
With Marcel Dalio, Nora Gregor, Roland Toutain, Jean Renoir.
France, 1939, 35mm, black & white, 110 min.
French, German & English with English subtitles.
Print source: HFA

Jean Renoir’s last film made in Europe for a dozen years seems to predict the coming war that would displace him. The filmmaker’s belief that "honest sincerity is catastrophic in a world where everyone has his reasons" is examined at length in this satirical, multilayered anatomy of French aristocracy, set at a weekend retreat in a countryside chateau. The intricately plotted ensemble piece shows the influence of the stage comedies of Beaumarchais and Marivaux even as it remains resolutely modern in its comprehensive and gimlet-eyed glance at a world ruled by status, hypocrisy and other “rules.” Its balanced mixture of farce and brittle irony has led many to consider The Rules of the Game Renoir’s masterpiece.

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