The Rules of the Game

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The Rules of the Game - Special Edition 2 Disc Set

The great French film director: François Truffaut called The Rules of the Game - "the film of films".

Widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, Jean Renoir's masterpiece The Rules of the Game is a scathing critique of corrupt French society cloaked in a comedy of manners.

At a weekend hunting party, amorous escapades abound among the aristocratic guests and are mirrored by the activities of the servants downstairs. The refusal of one of the guests to play by society's rules sets off a chain of events that ends in tragedy. Poorly received upon its release in 1939, the film was severely re-edited, and the original negative was destroyed during World War II.

In 1959 it was the film fully reconstructed and embraced by audiences and critics who now see the film as a timeless representation of a vanishing way of life. Now Criterion has re-issued the film on DVD from a fine-grain master discovered in a French archive in 2003.

Starring: Marcel Dalio, Paulette Dubost, Nora Gregor, Pierre Magnier, Gaston Modot, Jean Renoir, Roland Toutain.

DVD - The Criterion Collection - 2 Disc Set
Disc 1:

New transfer with restored image and sound and new English subtitles
Introduction to the film by Jean Renoir
Audio commentary written by film scholar Alexander Sesonske and read by filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich
Version comparison: side-by-side analysis of the two endings, along with an illustrated study of the shooting script
Selected scene audio commentary by Renoir historian Christopher Faulkner

Disc 2:

Excerpts from Jean Renoir le Patron: La Regle et l'Exception (1966), a French television program
Part one of Jean Renoir, a two-part BBC documentary by David Thompson
A new video essay about the film's production, release, and later reconstruction
Jean Gaborit and Jacques Durand discuss their reconstruction and re-release of the film (1965)
New interview with Renoir's son, Alain, an assistant cameraman on the film
New interview with set designer Max Douy
1995 interview with actress Mila Parely
Written tributes to the film and Renoir by Francois Truffaut, Paul Schrader, Bertrand Tavernier, Wim Wenders, and others
Plus a 24-page booklet with writings and essays

Curator's Comments:
Read Roger Ebert's essay on this DVD Classic.

Director: Jean Renoir
Black & White
110 minutes
Released: 1939
Rated: NR

Country: France
Language: French (with English subtitles)
Genre: Comedy/Drama

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