SUMMER log The Rules of the Game

Movie: The Rules of the Game
1939, B&W, 110 mins
Director: Jean Renoir
Actors: Marcel Dalio, Nora Gregor

Summary (IMDB):Aviator André Jurieux has just completed a record-setting flight, but when he is greeted by an admiring crowd, all he can say to them is how miserable he is that the woman he loves did not come to meet him. He is in love with Christine, the wife of aristocrat Robert de la Cheyniest. Robert himself is involved in an affair with Geneviève de Marras, but he is trying to break it off. Meanwhile, André seeks help from his old friend Octave, who gets André an invitation to the country home where Robert and Christine are hosting a large hunting party. As the guests arrive for the party, their cordial greetings hide their real feelings, along with their secrets - and even some of the servants are involved in tangled relationships.

Q:How is the camera movement significant in the ending scene of this film?
A:The final scene in The Rules of the Game is important in revealing several mysteries. The camera movement moves the story forward in showing the truth behind the romantic "couples" through a series of shots and tracks that follow several of the characters. The movements differentiate from one another-- reason being the difference of relationships among characters. For example at one point the camera follows a certain character and during another shot, the camera moves without following a character (moves on its own). Since the film has a general "hide-and-seek" theme throughout the romantic games, the camera parallels the film's complex relationships.


Q:How does costuming play a role in this film?
A: According to an online article, "The movie takes the superficial form of a country house farce, at which wives and husbands, lovers and adulterers, masters and servants, sneak down hallways, pop up in each other's bedrooms and pretend that they are all proper representatives of a well-ordered society." With that being said, each character's outfit does a really great job in representing the social class/ area of society they come from. It is a multifarious group of characters, and like any film, the mise-en-scene, or more specifically, the costuming plays a great role in visually describing the character. Clothing plays a key role in The Rules of the Game because of the complex plotline.