130. La Regle du jeu/The Rules of the Game (1939)

Running Time: 106 minutes
Directed By: Jean Renoir
Written By: Carl Koch, Jean Renoir
Main Cast: Nora Gregor, Marcel Dalio, Roland Toutain, Jean Renoir, Paulette Dubost, Mila Parely

INFIDELITY

To say that I was just a little disappointed by this film, would be an understatement. Not to say that it was bad, I just really had high hopes for it and while they didn't fall flat, they certainly fell, to some degree.

Andre Jurieux (Toutain) has just finished flying across the Atlantic, and when arriving at the airport, Le Bourget, he is saddened when his old friend Octave (Renoir) tells him that Christine, the love of Andre's life, didn't show up to greet him. With a radio station there and wanting some words from the aviator, he gets on the air exclaims his disappointment that Christine isn't there. Soon later we meet Christine (Gregor), who is married to Robert de la Chesnaye, a man who openly knows about her previous feelings for Andre. We also meet Lisette (Dubost), Christine's maid, who is also married. The two ladies talk about their marriages, infidelities and things of that nature. Robert excuses himself to make a phone call to Genevieve, his mistress who he arranges to meet the next morning. When the next morning arrives, Robert meets with Genevieve and tells her that he's decided to make a real go of his marriage and to stop the sneaking around and cheating. Genevieve doesn't take it all that well, but Robert invites her to spend the weekend with them at their estate, La Coliniere. Later, Octave convinces Robert to also invite Andre. Robert agrees, citing that if Andre and Christine really are in love, keeping them separate won't help matters.

When everyone arrives at the estate, we set many combustible elements into motion, with mistresses meeting wives and men who are in love with the same women in one room. Upon arriving at the estate Robert tends to the grounds, meeting up with groundskeeper Schumacher (Lisette's husband) and showing his disdain for the rabbits that are running free on his ground. Robert meets up with wily little poacher Marceau, who has wandered on to the grounds to try and retrieve a rabbit from one of his snares. When Schumacher catches him and tries to kick him off the grounds, Robert puts an end to it and ends up hiring Marceau as a servant. When matters are taken inside the house, is when the movie's intensity level is kicked up a notch, and all of the men and women are forced to converge together and settle their affairs...no pun intended.

For me, this movie had extreme potential and for some reason in the idea and the execution, they lost me somewhere. Everything was set up for this to be a great film. You had all of these combustible elements thrown into one estate and there was bound to be an explosion sooner or later. But, for me, the explosion just turned into a big cluster, where nothing got resolved. One thing that I would complain about is the fact that with so many characters, this film lacked character development. There was definite potential here to split open these characters and really show them in full bloom, but they didn't. This could have been a film with great dialogue scenes, great character interactions, but instead we get none of that. Not that the character's weren't interesting: I loved Marceau, Octave and Robert, and thought all three men turned in great performances. Now don't get me wrong, I didn't hate this movie and in fact, I think this is something that would be appreciated with one or two more viewings, but I was just very disappointed in it. If you were to ask me my opinion on the ultimate Jean Renoir film, my answer would emphatically be "La Grande Illusion", a prettier and much better film than "La Regle du jeu", and the fascinating thing is that I USUALLY dislike war or wartime films and love films like "The Rules of the Game".

RATING: 5.5/10 I get the feeling that this is either a love it or hate it movie, so I'll call my score right down the middle, as I really didn't love or hate it.

NEXT UP: Wuthering Heights...Capping off the 1930s with our introduction to Laurence Olivier.

March 6, 2010 12:35pm