directed by: Jean Renoir, year: 1939
actors: Marcel Dalio, Nora Gregor, Roland Toutain, Julien Carette

During a weekend at a French country estate, a glittering society gathers for leisure, flirtation, and secrets. Christine, married to a complacent aristocrat, becomes entangled with a handsome pilot and others, igniting a web of infidelities and social posturing. Renoir’s sprawling ensemble and long takes create a searing, humane satire of bourgeois manners, where appearance masks desire and guilt. The Rules of the Game ends with a chilling reminder of moral cost behind a festive veneer.

Class Conflict, Drama, Satire, Ensemble Cast, French Cinema, 1939