The Rules of the Game (1939) La règle du jeu (original title)

Director:

Jean Renoir

Writers:

Jean Renoir (scenario & dialogue)
Carl Koch (collaborator)

Release Date:

8 April 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Renoir's look at bourgeois life in France at the onset of World War II. An assorted cast of characters - the rich and their poor servants - meet up at a French chateau.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Servant | Party | Invitation | Flight

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Nora Gregor	...	Christine de la Cheyniest (as Nora Grégor)
Paulette Dubost	...	Lisette, sa camériste
Mila Parély	...	Geneviève de Marras
Odette Talazac	...	Madame Charlotte de la Plante
Claire Gérard	...	Madame de la Bruyère
Anne Mayen	...	Jackie, nièce de Christine
Lise Elina	...	Radio-Reporter (as Lise Élina)
Marcel Dalio	...	Marquis Robert de la Cheyniest (as Dalio)
Julien Carette	...	Marceau, le braconnier (as Carette)
Roland Toutain	...	André Jurieux
Gaston Modot	...	Edouard Schumacher, le garde-chasse
Jean Renoir	...	Octave
Pierre Magnier	...	Le général
Eddy Debray	...	Corneille, le majordome
Pierre Nay	...	Monsieur de St. Aubin
Richard Francoeur	...	Monsieur La Bruyère (as Francoeur)
Léon Larive	...	Le cuisinier
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nicolas Amato	...	L'invité sud-américain (uncredited)
Henri Cartier-Bresson	...	Le domestique anglais (uncredited)
Celestin	...	Le garçon de cuisine (uncredited)
Tony Corteggiani	...	Berthelin (uncredited)
Roger Forster	...	L'invité efféminé (uncredited)
Camille François	...	Le speaker (uncredited)
Jenny Hélia	...	La servante (uncredited)
André Zwoboda	...	L'ingénieur (uncredited)

Directed by
Jean Renoir

Writing credits
Jean Renoir		(scenario & dialogue)
Carl Koch		(collaborator) (as Koch)

Produced by
Jean Renoir	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Joseph Kosma

Cinematography by
Jean-Paul Alphen		(as Alphen)
Jean Bachelet		(as Bachelet)
Jacques Lemare
Alain Renoir

Film Editing by
Marthe Huguet		(as Mme Huguet)
Marguerite Renoir		(as Marguerite)

Production Design by
Max Douy		(as Douy)
Eugène Lourié		(as Lourié)

Costume Design by
Coco Chanel		(as La Maison Chanel)

Makeup Department
Ralph	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Camille François	....	production supervisor
Raymond Pillon	....	unit manager (as Pillon)
Claude Renoir	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Henri Cartier-Bresson	....	assistant director (as Henri Cartier)
André Zwoboda	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Joseph de Bretagne	....	sound engineer (as De Bretagne)

Camera and Electrical Department
Sam Levin	....	still photographer
Jean Mousselle	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Music Department
Roger Desormière	....	conductor: Mozart and Monsigny (as Roger Desormières)
Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny	....	music by (as Monsigny)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	....	music by (as Mozart)

Other crew
Dido Freire	....	script girl (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Nouvelles Éditions de Films (NEF)

Distributors

• Distribution Parisienne de Films (DPF) (1939) (France) (theatrical) (as La Distribution Parisienne de Films)
• Les Grands Films Classiques (GFC) (1961) (France) (theatrical) (restored)
• Éditions Montparnasse (1998) (France) (VHS)
• Éditions Montparnasse (2003) (France) (DVD) (remastered)
• Éditions Montparnasse (2005) (France) (DVD) (HD new master)
• Films Classiques, Les (2005) (France) (DVD) (division: Edition Montparnasse)
• ABC-Kinot (1977) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Aito Mäkinen (1963) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Cine Classics (1950) (USA) (theatrical) (English subtitles)
• Janus Films (2003) (USA) (theatrical)
• Kino International (1977) (USA) (theatrical)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2010) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Better Television Distribution (2006) (USA) (TV)
• Carousel Films (2010) (Greece) (DVD)
• Contemporary Films (1980) (UK) (all media)
• Criterion Collection, The (1993) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Filmconfect Home Entertainment (2012) (Germany) (DVD)
• Flashstar Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Future Film (2012) (Finland) (DVD)
• Homescreen (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Large Door Video (????) (Australia) (VHS)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1971) (1983) (Finland) (TV)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1972) (USA) (TV)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2010) (Australia) (video) (VOD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2011) (Australia) (TV)
• Versátil Home Vídeo (2004) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1985) (Finland) (TV)

Other Companies

• Chanel  dress
• G.M. Film  prints
• Paris Studios Cinéma  sound post-production
• Studio Pathé  sound post-production
• Western Electric  sound equipment

Also Known As:

"La règle du jeu" - France (original title)

Runtime:

110 min | USA:106 min (DVD version)

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (original rating) | USA:Approved | Australia:G | South Korea:12 (2004) | Netherlands:9 (2009) (DVD) | France:U (Visa #266) | Finland:S (1953) | USA:Not Rated | Australia:PG (VHS rating)

Filming Locations:

Aubigny-sur-Nère, Cher, France

Company:

Nouvelles Éditions de Films (NEF)

Trivia:

After the success of La Grande Illusion (1937) and La Bête Humaine (1938), Jean Renoir and his nephew Claude helped set up their own production company, Les Nouvelles Editions Francaises. This was their first production.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When you first see Christine and Lissette, there is a man visible in Christine's dressing-table mirror.

Quotes:

Octave:I want to disappear down a hole.
Robert de la Cheyniest:Why's that?
Octave:So I no longer have to figure out what's right and what's wrong.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Days of Heaven (1978)

Soundtrack:

Cors de chasse (Huntng Horns)

Closest to Mozartean perfection

This is the film I usually think of as my favorite of all time. It is perhaps the closest that cinema has come to the perfection of a Mozart opera. I'm thinking of "Marriage of Figaro" and "Cosi fan Tutte" in particular as the Mozart operas most closely related to Renoir's cinema masterpiece. Like those operas, there is a masterfully proportioned blend of outrageous humor and deep pathos. It is a comedy, but it is a particularly civilized form of comedy that you will not encounter in another film, except maybe in some films of Charlie Chaplin. Above every human situation in the convoluted plot there is the all-pervading sadness for a fading civilization about to be extinguished. The ambiguities of that civilization are perfectly captured in two hours of cinematic heaven. Everything about this film is extraordinary, and I long to see it issued on DVD, and only Criterion will be able to do it justice. I hope they will turn to it soon!