On the surface, Jean Renoir’s brilliant satire is a series of interlinked romantic intrigues that take place during a weekend shooting party in a country château. But the film is, in fact, a study of the corruption and decay at the top of French society on the eve of the Second World War.
Denigrated by the public, vilified by the critics, re-cut at the insistence of its producers and ultimately banned by the French government as demoralising and unpatriotic, La Règle du jeu is today widely recognised as one of the greatest films ever made.
‘To be scathing and humanist and gentle at the same time, and tell your tale effortlessly – that’s Renoir’s genius. One of the world’s great filmmakers, and this is his greatest achievement’
Eddie Muller
Voted the 13th greatest film ever made in the 2022 Sight & Sound poll
Extras
Restored in 4K in 2021 by La Cinémathèque française and Les Grands Films Classiques and presented on Blu-ray
Newly commissioned commentary by film writers David Jenkins and Trevor Johnston
Image par image: La Règle du jeu (1987, 42 mins): Jean Douchet and Pierre Oscar Lévy provide a detailed analysis of La Règle du jeu
Leslie Caron on La Règle du jeu (2016, 18 mins): the actor introduces Renoir’s classic as part of the Screen Epiphanies series at BFI Southbank
La Vie est à nous (1936, 64 mins): French Communist Party election film depicting political turmoil and the threat of fascism, with creative input from Jean Renoir and Henri Cartier-Bresson, among others
Pheasant Shooting (1913, 1 min): newsreel item on the start of the shooting season in a Norfolk game reserve
Society on the Moors (1921, 1 min): newsreel footage of Lord and Lady Savile’s shooting party on the Yorkshire Moors near Hebden Bridge
Stills gallery
Newly commissioned sleeve art by Jennifer Dionisio
**FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet including essays by David Thompson, Ginette Vincendeau and Barry Nevin
