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La RÈGLE DU JEU
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Featuring Nora Gregor / Paulette Dubost / Mila Parély
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Posters (1)
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Stills (14)
Made on the cusp of WWII, Jean Renoir’s satire of the upper-middle classes was banned as demoralising by the French government for two decades after its release.
“While La Règle du jeu presents itself as a contrivance, a game with emotions, a toying with reality and illusion, it is also a self-portrait of rare depth.”
Roy Armes, French Cinema, 1985
In 1939 Jean Renoir, a director associated with the left wing Popular Front, turned his gaze away from working people to the haute bourgeoisie. Taking its cue from the classic stage farces of Musset and Beaumarchais, Renoir sets his action during a shooting weekend at a country house. It’s an upstairs-downstairs world where servants and masters become enmeshed in a tangle of desire, a jumble of motivations in which, in the film’s famous phrase, “Everyone has their reasons”. At the film’s centre is the amiable Octave (played by Renoir), whose best intentions lead to tragedy.
Shot in long, controlled takes that stress the depth of vision, Renoir’s depiction of an intransigent society teetering blithely into disaster was derided upon release and only later acclaimed as one of cinema’s most vital films.
American director Robert Altman paid tribute to La Règle du jeu with his own upstairs-downstairs country-manor murder mystery, Gosford Park (2002).
Cast & credits
Cast
- Christine de la Cheyniest Nora Gregor
- Lisette, Christine's chambermaid Paulette Dubost
- Geneviève de Marras Mila Parély
- Charlotte de la Plante Odette Talazac
- Madame de La Bruyère Claire Gérard
- Jackie, Christine's niece Anne Mayen
- radio reporter Lise Elina
- Marquis Robert de La Cheyniest Marcel Dalio
- Marceau, the poacher Julien Carette
- André Jurieux Roland Toutain
- Schumacher, the gamekeeper Gaston Modot
- Octave Jean Renoir
- the general Pierre Magnier
- Corneille, the majordomo Eddy Debray
- Saint-Aubin Pierre Nay
- La Bruyère Richard Francoeur
- cook Léon Larive
- [Berthelin, huntsman] Tony Corteggiani
- [homosexual] Roger Forster
- [South American] Nicolas Amato
- [engineer at Caudron] André Zwobada
- [radio announcer] Camille François
- [English servant] Henri Cartier-bresson
- [kitchen servant] Jenny Hélia
Credits
Direction
- Director Jean Renoir
- Assistant Director André Zwobada
- Assistant Director Henri Cartier-bresson
- [Assistant Director] Carl Koch
- [Script Girl] Dido Freire
Production
- Production Company Nouvelle Edition Française
- Unit Manager Pillion
- Production Manager Claude Renoir
- Administrator Camille François
Writing
- Scenario/Dialogue Jean Renoir
- Screenplay Collaboration Carl Koch
Photography
- Photography Jean Bachelet
- Photography Jacques Lemare
- Photography Jean-Paul Alphen
- Photography Alain Renoir
Stills
- Stills Photography Sam Levin
Editing
- Editor Marguerite Renoir
- Editor Marthe Huguet
Design
- Art Director Eugène Lourié
- Art Director Max Douy
Costumes
- [Gowns] Coco Chanel
Music
- Music Roger Desormière
- [Musical Themes] Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- [Musical Themes] Monsigny
- [Musical Themes] Camille Saint-saëns
- [Music Arranger] Joseph Kosma
Sound
- sd Jo de Bretagne
Subtitles
- [Subtitles, Restoration] Lenny Borger