Lies, theatre, and illusion

In Rules of the Game, Renoir frequently relies on plays and actors to articulate his sense that illusion and lying pervade the world. During the party, there literally is a play or series of plays in the parlor. The actors in this production are, not coincidently, the people who put on facades throughout the film to each other, "acting" each and every day in order to cover up their falsehoods.

On the porch behind the house, Octave play acts as a great composer. He pretends to be on stage in front of thousands of people and begins a concert, only to stop at the last moment, the facade broken by his realization that his social role in this group may be only that of an entertainer. The acting is over and Octave becomes more honest, more pathetic and self hating.

A similar scene occurs at the end of the film. Robert de la Cheyniest, after learning of the tragic death of André Jurieux, addresses his guests from the same place, appearing as if he, too, were on stage in some play. Fittingly, he is infatuated with mechanical music machines that never change.

[after Jake Turcotte]

André,the iconoclast

In this story, André [alone] stands for hope and kindness in mankind. He is the voice of opposition in the big web of deceit. Everyone is a liar and they all seem to accept it as normal behavior. Octave even goes as far and defending their untrustworthy actions by saying that everyone lies, including the government and other institutions of power, so why not ordinary people?

This movie is a sort of social commentary on the lives of Parisians during 1939, especially among the lives of the wealthy. There is a card game that is held earlier in the movie, where Genevive says, “Love as it exists in society is merely the mingling of two whims and the contact of two skins.” This is a complete summation of the wealthy person’s outlook on relationships in this movie.

Renoir examines this type of behavior to make the viewer more aware of humanity's [deceit] and what it is capable of, what hearts it can break and what lives it can destroy.

[after Gordon Riker]

...a story that transcends the barriers of time

Juan Burgos