Jean Renoir’s film “Rules of the Game”, shot by him in 1939, has long been referred to as a masterpiece of French cinema, and now, finally, I watched it, although he had been waiting for a long time to see it.
The plot can hardly be called so original, it is a melodrama, some of the participants of which belong to high society, some
more
Jean Renoir’s film “Rules of the Game”, shot by him in 1939, has long been referred to as a masterpiece of French cinema, and now, finally, I watched it, although he had been waiting for a long time to see it. The plot can hardly be called so original, it is a melodrama, some of the participants of which belong to high society, some adjoin them as acquaintances, the rest are servants, but they are also full participants in this action. It all begins with a meeting at the airport pilot Andre Jurie, who set a new record for flying through the Antarctic, but suffers about the fact that Christina - the woman for whom he embarked on this, did not even bother to meet him at the airport. However, there is a slight nuance - she is married, although she was close to Andre, however, she later claimed that it was a friendship. Here and tied this tangle of events, shown as if in a comedy key, in places resembling even vaudeville, especially in the manner of acting, nevertheless ended tragically. There is a kind of game, and it is unclear whether someone really loves someone or not, it is painfully easy for participants, except Andre, to switch from one character to another. There are many satire there, but it is presented unobtrusively, although it was perceived at one time in bayonets. I watched the film without much effort, but, frankly, I could not appreciate the genius of it. I saw a lot of films of that time, but in this film, the acting seemed to me somewhat too theatrical for that time, even the play of Jean Renoir himself, who played the role of a mutual friend of Christina and Andre - Octave. Much of what is happening, especially the finale, suggests a theatrical performance, a game whose rules had to be followed. However, the way the film was made impressed the filmmakers, so later some of them used some storylines in their films and even visually repeated - for example, in the not-so-distant "Downton Abbey" you can see this.
|