As many of the "greatest films of all time" had left me cold (Kane, The Godfather, Psycho, 2001...) I had long ignored La Règle du jeu, expecting to think that here again would be a high quality film which I found personally unengaging.

Yet particularly to anyone with a liking for the early twentieth century witty country house story: Waugh, Mitford, Wodehouse and even the soapier recent creations of Julian Fellowes, this is a very accessible film. If you can watch Downton Abbey and are okay with subtitles, you should be able to watch this sharper-edged version.

Unlike most screen visions of that world, it's contemporaneous, rawer, and the difficult bits are unmodified for the modern Sunday night TV and…

Part of my 100 Movies, 100 Years Project, Year 1939

I am always afraid to watch films that are considered by cineastes to be the greatest films of all time. I fear that if I don't like the film, my ID card of film-buffery will be revoked and everyone will laugh at me and call me a loser and people will give me wedgies and what woman could love a man with a wedgie? But no amount of mental gymnastics or self-deception can make me like a film that I simply didn't enjoy. THE RULES OF THE GAME is one of those films.

After reading about the controversy that this film sparked at the time of its release, I was…

Renoir's acclaimed masterpiece is a film filled with minimal and significant details. Although this is my first time watching it, this characteristic is as clear as water. Renoir's well-crafted mise en scène is very still quite theatrical and almost chaotic but, in comparison with other films of the decade (such as, for example, Chaplin's masterful City Lights), it is brilliant. His management of actors in space has a profound sense of freedom that sometimes becomes disorientating, giving reason to the characters' inability to loyalty.

This lack of loyalty somehow led me to think about Jean Paul-Sartre and Simone de Bauvoir's relationship that became famous 30 years after the movie. There was some kind of insecurity about the idea of fidelity…

Another film I plucked at random from near the top of the Sight & Sound list after I watched Sunrise the other day. It basically follows some bourgeois French folk as they go on a hunting holiday type trip (can it be a holiday if you're just an aristocrat who does fuck all, all the time, already?) letting their intertwined love affairs untangle.

It's pretty--no, it's extremely damning of the aristocratic French, and although played out like a comedy, is actually rather a bleak and pessimistic view of the world and humanity. The whole scene with them shooting rabbits and ducks, for example, was horrendous to watch. Just killing things for fun because they have nothing better to do; it went…

I frequently hear people discuss the idea of "classic" or "revolutionary" films in a modern context. That very often they are dated or their brilliant aspects have become so standard to us that we won't even notice their brilliance and inventiveness. It's definitely a thing that happens, but the best movies transcend stuff like that and their genius shines through even if we are used to it.

Rules of the Game is a perfect example of this. It's script still sparkles, crackles and bites. It's hilarious and sarcastic while still clearly caring about these fools that it is mocking. That's why the tragedy inherent in it works. It is described as a satire disguised as a comedy of manners and…

A weekend at chateau exposes some ugly truths about a group of upper-class French folks. Technically brilliant with some of the deepest satire ever in film. The hunting scene in particular was very hard to watch, even now.

I could definitely understand why this film was so hated at its release because the characters, as interesting as they are, are very loathsome individuals. The only likeable character is Marceau played by Julien Carette, a poor poacher who gets hired at the chateau early on in the film.

Renoir's mise-en-scéne is fantastic and the feeling of how lively the setting is pervades every frame. Renoir did deep focus before Orson Welles made it popular. I adore the chateau, the surrounding grounds,…

Part of my 100 Movies, 100 Years Project, Year 1939

I am always afraid to watch films that are considered by cineastes to be the greatest films of all time. I fear that if I don't like the film, my ID card of film-buffery will be revoked and everyone will laugh at me and call me a loser and people will give me wedgies and what woman could love a man with a wedgie? But no amount of mental gymnastics or self-deception can make me like a film that I simply didn't enjoy. THE RULES OF THE GAME is one of those films.

After reading about the controversy that this film sparked at the time of its release, I was…

Analysis of Rules of the Game or Règle du jeu, La (1939)

Rules of the Game was directed in 1939 by French director Jean Renoir and quickly became a controversial film before lasting to become known as one of his greats. It came in the second of his eight decades of work as a director where he became known as one of the greatest French directors of all time. He was able to successfully pull of serious dramatic films such as Grand Illusion as well as lighter comedic fare such as Rules of the game. Even in such films, he still was able to convey much to the audience. So much in fact that the film, “(a) social comedy about…