#3: Rules of the Game

Rules of the Game (Renoir, 1939)

What originally pushed me to want to see classic films was a movie poll on a forum I frequent. This happened in August, and because it was the highest on TSPDT I hadn't seen yet, Rules of the Game was one of the first ones I picked up. Back then I didn't get it at all. I didn't have any of the context I needed, so I watched it with the perspective of expecting it to be like a more plot driven movie. Coming back to it now after having seen a lot more French films and a lot more art films, I do get it more.

Rules of the Game is about a bunch of rich people who are all having affairs with each other, but pulling it off with the air of upper class dignity people expect from them. I missed the point completely the first time, because I thought I was supposed to get swept up in the melodrama and care how their relationships turned out. No, the point is, these people are just doing whatever the hell they feel like doing all the time, then justifying it by abiding by some tacitly understood moral code. But all that moral code really is is 'Everyone keep up the appearance of classiness'.

What really sets the movie apart though is the way the scenes were staged. Characters do what rich people do at parties in the 1930s. They hunt for game, they dance, they entertain themselves, they exchange pleasantries. And while everybody is going through these motions, the movie juggles several different subplots at once. It's chaotic while still seeming concise. Everybody is just going around acting on their own personal whims, but it never seems 'All over the place'. It handles multilinear storytelling better than any other movie I've seen.

Without giving away too much about the ending, I'll say that there's a tragedy that is a result of several plotlines coming together in a choatic mass-misinterpretation. And then we see just how little all these people care about anything except presenting the appearance of class.

Rating: **** / 5

34/101

Next: Tokyo Story, The Apartment

Others:

The Obscure Object Of Desire: **** / 5

Bunuel started making films in the 20's. This is his last one, released in 1977. This is the swan song to one of the longest directing careers there is. Unlike most of his other films, it has nothing to do with catholicism being stupid. It's about a rich man who falls in lust with a woman, and spends the whole movie chasing her, where she spends the whole movie giving him just enough to entice him, but not so much that he's satisfied. They talk about love, but really he's in love with chasing her and she's in love with being chased. Also, the woman is played by two different actresses who constantly switch back and forth without anyone noticing anything, which is a really nice touch.

Close-Up: *** 1/2 / 5

An Iranian documentary-ish reenactment of a legal case using the actual people involved as actors. A man was on trial for fraud. He was pretending to be a famous movie director, and he strung a family along for weeks, convincing them he was the director, and telling them he wants to shoot a movie in their house. When he gets caught, they accuse him of attempted burglary and bring him to trial. In the trial, they talk through his actual motives for the farse. It's a really interesting movie to watch, but not one I'd recommend to someone who isn't really interested in seeing something different.