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The Rules of the Game

Play trailer Poster for The Rules of the Game 1939 1h 50m Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
97% Tomatometer 62 Reviews 89% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
André is having an affair with Christine, whose husband Robert is himself hiding a mistress. Christine's married maid is romantically entangled with the local poacher. At a hunting party, the passions of servants and aristocrats dangerously collide.
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The Rules of the Game

The Rules of the Game

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Critics Consensus

Its genius escaped many viewers at the time, but in retrospect, The Rules of the Game stands as one of Jean Renoir's -- and cinema's -- finest works.

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Critics Reviews

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Richard Brody The New Yorker Jul 31, 2025
Like the opera [The Marriage of Figaro], the film blends these disparate moods and tones at a whirlwind tempo: slapstick comedy and poignant melodrama, graceful lyricism and bumptious braggadocio, witty satire and bitter tragedy. Go to Full Review
Pauline Kael The New Yorker Feb 5, 2024
Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game is a love roundelay that accelerates and intensifies until it becomes a rare mingling of lyric poetry and macabre farce. Go to Full Review
David Denby The New Yorker Jun 3, 2014
The word "Mozartean"... gets thrown around a little too eagerly by critics, but one movie, as almost everyone agrees, deserves this supreme benediction -- Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game. Go to Full Review
Ian Kane Epoch Times Sep 27, 2024
4.5/5
The film’s commentary on class and indifference resonates today and, hopefully, can inspire viewers to strive for greater understanding and empathy. Go to Full Review
Diana Tuova Spotlight on Film Aug 2, 2024
5/5
This film is, arguably, Jean Renoir’s greatest achievement. Go to Full Review
Penelope Gilliatt Observer (UK) Mar 6, 2024
Renoir's script, a perfect complex mechanism that runs with the confidence of a Rolls-Royce engine, is one of the few sophisticated films about love that achieve irony without a stain of malignity. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Huntin P @PaxVobiscum80 5 hrs ago Jean Renoir. He directed this, The Rules Of The Game. He also directed the legendary Grand Illusion. These are movies that cineastes tell us are truly great movies. Thing is, The Rules was actually poorly received by the public, especially the aristocracy. As a satire, I guess, it was a bit too on-the-nose. And as prison break movies go, Grand Illusion, well, I guess it brings out a streak of impatience in me, one I'm not proud of. So, 1930s era Renoir doesn't captivate me. That said, his 1951 English language movie, The River, set in British India, about the growing pains of a group of girls, carries immense charm and atmosphere. The River was a great success, and quite a gamble for the moneyman backing the project, so I recommend that movie in preference to the much more 'worthy' Rules. See more Jacob B @RT48293763 Sep 8, 2025 The film that introduced me to two great loves of mine: French cinema and Robert Altman. Altman credited this with teaching him “the rules”. See more Tom F @RT55173143 May 16, 2025 An awkward comedy of manners from an awkward period to be making movies in France. See more Gus L @RT25340737 Nov 17, 2024 Renoir found it remarkably easy to come up with subplots and one scene characters, so he focused on that instead of actually creating a plot or a protagonist. There is no discernible character development or movement from the beginning to the end. It was, as Larry David may say, "a show about nothing." While that may work well for a sitcom or a play, a film without a plot or protagonist is a disappointing film indeed. Three stars for the witty dialogue and well-executed slapstick. I can justify no more than that. See more bob c @frogs4ever Feb 23, 2024 too convoluted for me See more George B @geobird Nov 10, 2023 I'm going to be in the minority here. I found Rules of the Game to be mildly amusing in places, but overall boring. And lacking in consistent tone. It's been hailed as a masterpiece. I thought it a mediocrepiece. See more Read all reviews
The Rules of the Game

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Movie Info

Synopsis André is having an affair with Christine, whose husband Robert is himself hiding a mistress. Christine's married maid is romantically entangled with the local poacher. At a hunting party, the passions of servants and aristocrats dangerously collide.
Director
Jean Renoir
Producer
Claude Renoir
Screenwriter
Carl Koch, Jean Renoir
Distributor
Cine Classics, Criterion Collection
Production Co
Nouvelles Éditions de Films (NEF)
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
French (France)
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 8, 1939, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Jul 21, 2009
Runtime
1h 50m
Aspect Ratio
35mm, Flat (1.37:1)
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