La Règle du Jeu
And yet again we have one of those ‚most acclaimed‘ movies ever. The more I watch these movies, the more I get the impression that I will never understand what makes these kind of movies stand above all others. What makes „Citizen Kane“ so great that everybody and their mother loves the movie so much? I have wondered the same about „Vertigo“ recently, and now I am wondering the same about „La Règle du Jeu“.
Apart from that, „La Règle du Jeu“ is surprisingly fun for such an old movie. The best scene is the one in which wife and mistress become friends after laughing about the husband together. The next highlight was the chaotic scene during the stage performance. As the marvelous French Wikipedia article on the movie says, Renoir used a theatre stage technique in which many different characters interact with each other on different levels, creating a comical and chaotic scene in which everyone is in an uproar. This is precisely what I love about comedies so much, and it is executed brilliantly in „La Règle du Jeu“. I also thoroughly liked the performance of the actors, and it seems Renoir also has influenced it a lot by letting them improvise and asking them to play ‚comeddia dell’arte‘-style.
Speaking of characters, who do you think would be my favorite character? ;) Hint: It’s a woman, amazingly enough. She is the best actress and lightened up the beginning of the movie with her playful way of acting, I loved it. Apart from her, I didn’t care much for any of those other characters, although every single one of them contributed to the hilarity of the story. It especially becomes clear at the very end when Robert asks Octave „Ah, so you love her too?“ with this non-chalant voice of his. Ahaha.
It is mostly in little details about the mise en scène that „La Règle du Jeu“ is great, not so much the storyline or even the characters who are all pretty stereotypical. Perhaps this focus on a beautifully crafted mise en scène is what these movies so highly acclaimed, and why I personally tend to prefer the more story- and character-focused „Gosford Park“ over „La Règle du Jeu“.
All in all, if it were me, I’d say that I prefer „La Règle du Jeu“ over „Vertigo“, and I like „Vertigo“ more than „Citizen Kane“. Oh, and I like „2001“ more than all of them.