Director: Jean Renoir
Satires of the upper class have been done in film time and time again, but The Rules of the Game is one of the first, and maybe the most scathing of them all. It is technically a light satire (this film likely influenced Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night, which I reviewed recently), but that satire is not afraid to be extremely harsh and critical. The film consists of a large number of French bourgeoisie who are in a estate together for a vacation, and in this "vacation" we see how their fake rules force them to do things that are sometimes nonsensical, and sometimes completely inhumane.
Renoir does not criticize them to the point of dehumanizing them though, the humanity of the characters is intact but, like in Renoir's Grand Illusion, the artificial constructs of society are what make these people act so idiotic. Renoir does a masterful job with a story with so many characters and still keeping it coherent and flowing. The film moves seamlessly from scene to scene, from character to character showing everyone and in all their messed up glory. This is all just surface level analysis, because there is so much more underneath that can be taken away from this film with multiple viewings. This is one I will definitely revisit.
Grade: A
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