For the cineaste, The Rules of the Game is a delight on many levels – for the complex scene set-ups and skilful long takes, the many visual links between sets of people and actions, and at least two wonderfully choreographed sequences involving all the characters. But on a less technical level, the most aesthetically pleasing thing about it is Paulette Dubost.
In this cavalcade of upper-class infidels and their equally adventurous servants, Dubost plays a chambermaid named Lisette. She is incredibly good and also (inappropriate though it may be to say this about a woman who could have babysat my grandfather back in the day) incredibly hot. Lisette embodies the old stereotype of the saucy, flirtatious French maid who doesn’t mind having some fun - but she's also resourceful, with surprising emotional depths, and capable of taking care of herself (even in a situation where her insanely jealous husband is chasing one of her lovers about the mansion, rifle in hand). I don’t know if such a type ever existed in the real world, but she should have.
Anyway, after this viewing, I looked up Dubost online and discovered that she died – at the age of 100! – just two months ago. I don’t usually get sentimental about the passing of public figures whom I didn’t personally know (even if I’m a fan of their work), but this felt a bit strange: Lisette is one of the most profoundly alive screen characters I’ve seen. Many people I know who haven’t actually seen Renoir’s film are daunted by its reputation and by its continual appearances on “Greatest Film” lists; they figure it must be “difficult” or "arty". But it’s one of the most accessible of classics, a warm and endearing tragi-comedy, and the pert girl with the sparkle in her eye - munching, Eve-like, on an apple while she sets a chain of events in motion - is a big part of its charm.
its slightly unrelated but Jean Renoir's profile at imdb starts with the line "son of a famous painter, he had a happy childhood" lol
ReplyDeleteGreat film it surely is. However, I need to revisit it. Been a while.
ReplyDeleteI think the two odd men out in the film are Paulette's husband Schumacher and the aviator chap Andre Jurieux. Two "conventional" people with middle-class values and work ethic who pay the price for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
In a milieu where nobody takes anybody else too seriously, these two guys don't get the joke. Their seriousness and purposefulness (admirable virtues in a different social milieu) are liabilities given the circles they move in!
I'm reminded of a lesser Hollywood film that deals with similar themes - The Philadelphia Story. Again, a similar milieu with one character out of his place - George Kittredge. A self-made entrepreneur who is engaged to Kate Hepburn. The guy may be wealthy and self-made alright. But a misfit amongst the WASP nobility of suburban Philadelphia!
Another film that I'm reminded of is Hitchcock's underrated Under Capricorn. The movie illustrates that upper-class sensibilities cannot be acquired, but only inherited. Joseph Cotten who plays a self-made Australian baron is handicapped in his relationship with his aristocratic wife. His middle-class mind cannot quite fathom his wife's eccentricities and self-obsession!
@ shrikanth - nice description dude...i do feel like watching the film again. seriousness and purposefulness are liabilities lol...are there such films in India too..subtle criticisms of the rich-class?
ReplyDelete...subtle criticisms of the rich-class?
ReplyDeletePessimist Fool: I don't think the film is especially judgemental about one class or type of people - and Renoir isn't really that sort of director anyway, he's much kindlier than (say) Bunuel, whose Exterminating Angel and Discreet Charm were harsher critiques.
My original comment disappeared, so here I go again...
ReplyDeleteJai, I see that you have used the Criterion cover for the restored RotG. Some days back I was at the store & saw this new version. I have the older edition from 2004 with its boring blue cover, & I was tempted to buy this new copy just because of the wonderful cover art. However, after upgrading to the new Criterion versions of Black Narcissus, Red Shoes, Jalsaghar, Three Colors & Stagecoach, I had to stop myself.
On another note, I think movies like RotG & Smiles Of A Summer Night are popular in India (totally anecdotal of course, based on feedback from some family members & friends) because it’s essentially a class comedy, like a Hrishikesh Mukherjee movie, or a late Bunuel as Jai mentions. While some American TV shows like the Beverly Hillibillies & movies like Down & Out In Beverly Hills, Scenes From Class Struggles In Beverly Hills (see a theme here?), Trading Places & My Man Godfrey cover similar ground, I can’t immediately recall something similar from Hollywood of the 50s or 60s (maybe Giant to an extent). Maybe it’s more of an European thing.
Jai - I watched Exterminating Angel after reading your blog...and then some other films of Bunuel...what a guy like somebody said "one hell of an artist"...i still can't take that scene out of my mind from The Phantom of Liberty when riots break out and an ostrich is looking confused in zoo...and that scene is also from Phantom only when a patient slaps the doctor after he tells him to remain cool knowing that he has cancer ;-)
ReplyDeleteKitchen appliances are equally important for household decoration. Besides coming handy to prepare delicious stuffs, theses appliances are the style contributors as well. LG appliances play this dual role playing quiet beautifully, and the visitor can get them all at www.rightshopping.in/g/itb.asp?C=LG-Kitchen-Appliances&b=LG&cid=6 straightaway.
ReplyDelete"LG appliances...role playing quiet beautifully"
ReplyDeleteRole playing quiet beautifully. Even allowing for some very memorable chatty characters of his, what better description could there be of Renoir's style?
A fan apart: heh. You do realise that I can't delete the LG comment now? It has to stay so that yours is contextualised.
ReplyDeleteAm being completely jobless now and posting a short comments exchange I had with my friend Rajorshi on Facebook. Here goes:
ReplyDeleteI'm ashamed to admit this - it totally must be me - but I haven't yet been able to sit through that entire movie. Two tries, several years apart, and both times I gave up after about 50 minutes.
ReplyDeleteOops, now I'm reading your piece, Jai, and the first para is about being a helpless re-watcher. : )
Rajorshi: don't worry, you're in good company - even Martin Scorsese, who is among the most enthusiastic movie buffs/scholars ever, has said that he finds it difficult to get into this film and that he can't relate to the people and the setting.
ReplyDeletePhew! : ) No, I think what it is is, I can completely see its greatness as an ensemble piece, amazing performances, social observation; I can imagine it as a great play or even a novel, but what I've always been unable to appreciate is its greatness simply as motion pictures. In other words, is it that 'cinematically' great, whatever that means? But comparing its impact to other films that are unimaginable in my mind in any form other than cinema, I wondered - is being a film indispensable to its essence?
ReplyDeleteOh I think it's cinematically brilliant - if you see it again (hopefully on the Criterion print), observe how fluid the long takes are, the way the whole thing is choreographed, and how you can see significant foreground AND background action in the same shots. (The use of deep focus is just as impressive as in Citizen Kane, which was made 2 years later, though Rules of the Game doesn't use as many in-your-face techniques as Welles does.)
ReplyDeleteI do vaguely get what you mean though - it's very much a narrative-driven work in the sense that anyone who really enjoys it will enjoy it mainly for the characters and the dialogue rather than for the obvious "cinema" of it. But we do sometimes fall into the trap of defining "cinematic" in very limited ways. The best work of the great Hollywood directors like Hawks were made with a tremendous understanding of how to tell a story visually - scene composition, character placement, the use of lighting and so on. But when we watch those films the technique is often so invisible and at the service of the narrative that we don't even notice it (the first two or three times anyway).
I can’t immediately recall something similar from Hollywood of the 50s or 60s (maybe Giant to an extent)
ReplyDeleteTipu: Are you referring to movies dealing with class conflict? There are several penetrating movies from the late studio era that grapple with class issues.
A Place in the Sun is probably the most well known. The story of a half-baked youth of little education unable to keep his head amidst the upper class.
An even greater film is ofcourse Minnelli's Some Came Running - one of my favourite films ever. A story of infatuations battling against the superiority and inferiority complexes inherent in the characters. The film exemplifies that Groucho Marx joke - "I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would have someone like me as a member".
My Man Godfrey cover similar ground
ReplyDeleteYeah. That's a great film.
Another brilliant class comedy from the same era is Cukor's underrated Holiday. An anti-American film in some respects.
Shrikanth: I'm a big fan of Holiday too - one of Cary Grant's most interesting performances, I think. Don't remember My Man Godfrey as well as I should (had a big crush on Carole Lombard back in the day) and haven't seen Some Came Running yet.
ReplyDeleteTipu: Are you referring to movies dealing with class conflict? There are several penetrating movies from the late studio era that grapple with class issues.
ReplyDeleteShrikant, I was asking specifically about comedies about class conflict. Screwball comedies are of course particularly adaptable to class conflicts (eg. It Happened One Night, Tovarich, Holiday).
Btw, in my round up of movie comedies about class conflict, I left out Monsoon Wedding, which one could argue is as much comedy as drama.
Btw, in my round up of movie comedies about class conflict, I left out Monsoon Wedding
ReplyDeleteAnother big coincidence: I was thinking about doing a piece on exactly these sorts of ensemble films, which parallel and contrast the activities of the upper class and the lower/servant class.
Some Came Running is on TCM this friday.
ReplyDelete