January 3rd: THE RULES OF THE GAME (Jean Renoir, 1939)
NOTE: This film will be projected in the high-definition Blu-ray format.
During a weekend retreat at a country estate, the lives of the bourgeoisie and their servants are depicted in comic and tragic fashion.
Jean Renoir, son of the famous Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, is one of cinema's most revered artists and whose humanist perspective has influenced countless filmmakers around the world, notably François Truffaut, Satyajit Ray, Luchino Visconti, Orson Welles, and Robert Altman. He began making silent films in 1924, and over the next decade built up his reputation as a director of dramas and comedies, often studying issues of class, and then took a distinct political turn during his association with the Popular Front left-wing political movement. His 1937 film The Grand Illusion was an enormous international hit, and was the first foreign language film nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.
Now with his own production company and self-financing, Renoir was free to make whatever he pleased. With a feeling of war in Europe once again brewing in the air, he opted to take aim at what he considered a decaying society oblivious to the outside world, under the guise of a romantic comedy, inspired by classic French plays The Marriage of Figaro and The Moods of Marianne. Using the standard dramatic form of matched opposing pairs of characters, he doubled the number to eight to better highlight the difference between the servants and masters.
Renoir chose to set the story at a country house in part because of fond recollections from his youth, and a large portion of the film was shot on location i the Sologne region of France. One key element captured here was the now-famous rabbit-hunting sequence, a sport which Renoir detested but used to make a thematic point. Legendary photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson was one of Renoir's assistants, who also had a small onscreen role and did some second unit work. The rest of the film was shot on sets at the Pathé studios outside of Paris, and when war broke out with Germany's invasion of Czechoslovakia in March of 1939, several crew members left the production to enlist in the army. Much of the film was shot in long takes with pioneering "deep focus" photography to better capture and follow the movements of its large ensemble.
Initially planning on reusing many of the cast members from his previous film La Bête Humane, most of them were unavailable which caused him to spread the net further. Marcel Dalio, a Jewish actor who portrayed a man of the same faith in The Grand Illusion, does the same here. Another key role was played by Nora Grégor, who Renoir spotted in the audience at a theatre and turned out to be an Austrian nobleman's wife, also Jewish. The world-weary, comic relief role of Octave was originally meant to be played by Renoir's brother Pierre, who dropped out after delays caused a scheduling conflict, and would wind up being filled by Jean Renoir himself. All the actors were encouraged to improvise and Renoir was constantly rewriting the script based on material the actors were giving him.
The editing process already begun while shooting was still going on, Renoir first arrived at a 3-hour cut, then brought it down to under 2 hours. Despite its modest scope and setting, it wound up being the most expensive production in French film history up to that point. Its premiere resulted in an hostile response from the crowd, with loud disruptions, things thrown at the screen, and threats of arson. The mixed critical reviews had some writers calling the film unpatriotic, a mess, confused. Renoir kept removing scenes over the next few weeks to try to appease the public to no avail, and finally the French government banned the film for being immoral, a bad influence, and misrepresenting the country.
Ten years after the World War II ended, a film restoration company pieced together elements from existing negatives and prints, despite the lab that housed much of the materials being bombed in 1942. Consulting with Renoir and other members of the production, it was restored to its previous 106 minute length. A re-evaluation of the film occurred after its showing at the 1959 Venice Film Festival, and became a major influence of the French New Wave. Its legacy as one of the greatest films ever made can be seen in UK magazine Sight & Sound's international critics poll, taken every 10 years, where The Rules of the Game is the only film to have placed in the Top 10 in all seven decades, settling in at #2 behind Citizen Kane for three straight polls.
Running time is 106 minutes.
During a weekend retreat at a country estate, the lives of the bourgeoisie and their servants are depicted in comic and tragic fashion.
Jean Renoir, son of the famous Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, is one of cinema's most revered artists and whose humanist perspective has influenced countless filmmakers around the world, notably François Truffaut, Satyajit Ray, Luchino Visconti, Orson Welles, and Robert Altman. He began making silent films in 1924, and over the next decade built up his reputation as a director of dramas and comedies, often studying issues of class, and then took a distinct political turn during his association with the Popular Front left-wing political movement. His 1937 film The Grand Illusion was an enormous international hit, and was the first foreign language film nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.
Now with his own production company and self-financing, Renoir was free to make whatever he pleased. With a feeling of war in Europe once again brewing in the air, he opted to take aim at what he considered a decaying society oblivious to the outside world, under the guise of a romantic comedy, inspired by classic French plays The Marriage of Figaro and The Moods of Marianne. Using the standard dramatic form of matched opposing pairs of characters, he doubled the number to eight to better highlight the difference between the servants and masters.
Renoir chose to set the story at a country house in part because of fond recollections from his youth, and a large portion of the film was shot on location i the Sologne region of France. One key element captured here was the now-famous rabbit-hunting sequence, a sport which Renoir detested but used to make a thematic point. Legendary photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson was one of Renoir's assistants, who also had a small onscreen role and did some second unit work. The rest of the film was shot on sets at the Pathé studios outside of Paris, and when war broke out with Germany's invasion of Czechoslovakia in March of 1939, several crew members left the production to enlist in the army. Much of the film was shot in long takes with pioneering "deep focus" photography to better capture and follow the movements of its large ensemble.
Initially planning on reusing many of the cast members from his previous film La Bête Humane, most of them were unavailable which caused him to spread the net further. Marcel Dalio, a Jewish actor who portrayed a man of the same faith in The Grand Illusion, does the same here. Another key role was played by Nora Grégor, who Renoir spotted in the audience at a theatre and turned out to be an Austrian nobleman's wife, also Jewish. The world-weary, comic relief role of Octave was originally meant to be played by Renoir's brother Pierre, who dropped out after delays caused a scheduling conflict, and would wind up being filled by Jean Renoir himself. All the actors were encouraged to improvise and Renoir was constantly rewriting the script based on material the actors were giving him.
The editing process already begun while shooting was still going on, Renoir first arrived at a 3-hour cut, then brought it down to under 2 hours. Despite its modest scope and setting, it wound up being the most expensive production in French film history up to that point. Its premiere resulted in an hostile response from the crowd, with loud disruptions, things thrown at the screen, and threats of arson. The mixed critical reviews had some writers calling the film unpatriotic, a mess, confused. Renoir kept removing scenes over the next few weeks to try to appease the public to no avail, and finally the French government banned the film for being immoral, a bad influence, and misrepresenting the country.
Ten years after the World War II ended, a film restoration company pieced together elements from existing negatives and prints, despite the lab that housed much of the materials being bombed in 1942. Consulting with Renoir and other members of the production, it was restored to its previous 106 minute length. A re-evaluation of the film occurred after its showing at the 1959 Venice Film Festival, and became a major influence of the French New Wave. Its legacy as one of the greatest films ever made can be seen in UK magazine Sight & Sound's international critics poll, taken every 10 years, where The Rules of the Game is the only film to have placed in the Top 10 in all seven decades, settling in at #2 behind Citizen Kane for three straight polls.
Running time is 106 minutes.
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