At first I thought I was going to see a brittle, sophisticated romantic comedy, like something by Noel Coward or Somerset Maugham.. Then, after the cast decamped to the chateau, I fancied I saw reflections of Marivaux and Beaumarchais plays, with their overtones of social criticism.. Further along it seem to degenerate into a frantic takeoff on screwball comedies. And it ended in tragedy. Jerked my emotions around. I enjoyed "Rules of the game", although I wonder if it transcends time the way truly great films do. P.S. While Renoir may well have modest and humane, he did give the meatiest role, Octave, to himself.

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Renoir's 1939 La Régle du Jeu, a frequent inclusion on various "ten best films" lists, is almost beyond criticism. On the surface we see a smoothly functioning chamber drama with French farce elements, a depiction of the idle wealthy acting abominably and their servants following suit. And yet both the pre-war French government in 1939 and the Nazi occupying force in 1940 banned the film. What did these zealous censors find to be so subversive? Certainly the hunting sequence at the center of the film carries a punch. Here the idle wealthy have guns, and with smug self-satisfaction they slaughter a host of rabbits and birds. **SPOILER WARNING And when, toward the end, one of their own number (though not really quite in their set) is shot dead, there is little show of consternation or remorse. The matter, an embarrassment really, is handled with an efficiency that is chilling.** In fact these people are monsters. At the same time, they are monsters viewed through the lens of the most humane of directors. Renoir in fact inserts himself into the film as the most humane of characters, an aimless philosophizer with a sympathetic ear for both his wealthy patrons and their servants. With its Max Ophüls-like visual elegance, its closely observed characters, its urbane script (by Renoir and Carl Koch), Rules of the Game is a piece of quality film-making. What earns it a place on the "ten best films" lists is its subtle depiction, hiding beneath bourgeois bedgames, of an amoral class sleepwalking its way toward an all-destroying cataclysm. It is though an elusive masterpiece, and for many, myself included, a true appreciation of its brilliance comes only with multiple viewings and the passing of years. The Criterion DVD is so loaded with extra features and commentary that a second disc is required. It amounts almost to a minicourse in how to make, or at least appreciate, a great film.

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