游戏规则

In The Rules of the Game, the hunting scene foreshadows the murder of Andre. The upper-class with their servants committed the murder, and the weaker is the victim, both the rabbits and Andre who doesn’t suit for this world full of lies. Masters and servants regarded the hunting as a game, in which they obtained entertainment. In the same, when Andre was shot dead, the master replaced “murder” with “coincidence”. For these reasons, the scene of hunting plays an extremely vital role in the whole film. Most obviously, it differs from other scenes in terms of visual style.
In most parts of the film, Renoir is a cool narrator, directing with still shots and panning shots. He admitted that he “wanted the audience to have the impression they were seeing a single shot following the people and that there had not been any cutting” . When Octave is guided into Christine’s bedroom, to the living room with Robert, and to the hall with the server , the scenes are mainly quite long and moving in panoramas. No careful close-ups revealing the spirit status of people. Renoir’s camera is just like an observer watching a show from a long distance. Similarly, throughout the last part of the film, the murder, the camera even gets trapped in a corner, where it is forced to watch the action from a fixed position. No intervene to break the long action, no agony when the murder happens. Renoir observed it in a half amused and half anxious way.
However, the hunting scene is an exception. It’s the fastest-pace scene in the film with a lot of cuttings. Initially, it requires fast rhythm when shooting the scene of rabbits running and birds flying. Moreover, the scene constantly cuts between different running rabbits and the hunters, in order to make a tense atmosphere for the rabbits and an enjoyable atmosphere for the hunters. Thus the contrast forms.
Also, it uses much more close-ups than the other scenes. The extremely wonderful close-up is a dying rabbit, even struggling to kick its legs like a kind of dancing. It’s vivid and cruel to represent it with a totally complete and clear close-up as long as 3 seconds, which puts the misery before death directly in front of us, scares us and arouses our sympathy.
The fast cutting and the close tracking of the rabbits imply the hunting scene is no longer Renoir’s calm description from an angle of observer. Actually, we can rarely see any other scenes filled with feelings like this one. Even the murder scene is designed to be as less objective and less striking as possible. But the result turns out to be infectious and impressive, which should owe to the hunting scene, as a metaphor of the murder, attracts more attention than the murder.
The hunt scene tells more about the murder than the murder scene itself. In the hunting, the wealthy masters act as murders, and the servants as accomplices. The servants drive the rabbits and birds to a certain direction for their masters, and the masters enjoy the feast of killing. In terms of the form, this “outdoors” scene has a lot in common with the “inner” world of the mansion.
Just like the rabbits running here and there, Andre, Robert, Christine, Lisette, the gamekeeper Schumacher and the poacher Marceau hide-and-seek in the same way. The hiders want to escape just like the rabbits do, all of them risking their lives with guns pointed to them.
The chateau is holding a big show, at the same time, a chasing show is on display. It’s so ridiculous and ironic a scene that wealthy masters and servants in tidy and noble clothes chased each other like hunters and frightened animals. No wonder the spectators who were watching the show regard it totally as part of the acting. Spectators didn’t take it seriously, just as a game.
Like the chaos during the hunting, inside the mansion there’s a big mess. The relationship among people is complicated, unexpected people joining the chasing game. Some were sad, mad, and some were terrifically delighted, correlated with people’s reaction after the hunting.
The mostly important quality in common between the outside hunting and the inside chasing is that, in essence, it’s the people who get control of weapon control the game. In face of guns, fastest rabbits can only survive due to luck. The gunman is also bound to shoot somebody, who turns out to be Andre, the most innocent one in the bloody game. Why is Schumer, the gamekeeper designed to shoot Andre dead? Because he is the gamekeeper, who puts the game in order and tells people to follow the rules with his gun. The word “gamekeeper” is a kind of metaphor itself. Faced with the coming World War II the society was like a huge hunting game, where who has the weapons controls the game.
Renoir commented on The Rules of the Game that “it’s a film about a group, a film representing a society.” A society that “everything they believed in was collapsing” . “It’s not so difficult to work well when the compass of anxiety points in the true direction.” However, this movie was a resounding flop after releasing because of this true direction revealed in the movie.
The Rules of the Game was made just before the war. Renoir said in making it, he had wanted to make a film in which French society was seen as “dancing on a volcano”. And beneath its seemingly innocuous appearance the story attacks the very structure of society.
Renoir preferred to let actors play in the décor and catch them unawares. The camera established a “narrator” whose stance and gestures express an inhuman indifference to the human figures within its world. The suffering and joys of the inhabitants of that world move us, although the camera frames that world as if it were inhabited by puppets, not people. For example, we never know Christine well although she is the main role. What she thinks? What she wants? Most of the characters are too mysterious to dig out.
The only exception is Andre. At the very beginning sequence, Andre came back as a hero, but burst out truth, unable to conceal his emotions. There are master level, servant level and bottom level (as Marceau), but there’s no level that Andre belongs to, because he is the only honest person in the movie. Robert is tired of love affairs with his mistress. Christine says I love you to three different men since she knew Robert’s betrayal, which are neither true nor totally false. Lisette is the mistress of Octave and she flirts with Marceau. Octave, Andre’s honest friend, wants to occupy Christine by his own. It’s a world full of lies, and survival of the fittest. Octave comments Andre is floating in the air while Robert is on the ground. At last the most honest person is out of game and Andre’s murder is covered with another lie of “incidence”.
The Rules of the Game is a continuous integrity, full of metaphors and poetic rhythms. Among them the hunting scene is worth discovering. It differs from the other scenes with a fast cutting and represents extremely strong emotions. The wealthy masters as well as their servants regard shooting as a game, and replace murder with incidence. The mess both inside and outside of the mansion shows a world of lies, dangerously living on and on.


References:
1. Jean Renoir: Renoir on Renoir, News, Essays and Remarks, Translated by Carol Volk, Cambridge University Press, 1989
2. Andre Bazin: Jean Renoir, Simon and Shuster New York, first published in France in 1971 English translation in 1973
3. Jean Renoir: My life and my Films, William Collins & Sons an Atheneum Publishers Inc
4. Peter Wollen: La Regle du jeu and Modernity, first published in Film Studies, 1,1999. Reprinted in Wollen’s Paris Hollywood: Writings on Film. Verso, 2002
5. William Rothman: The Filmmaker Within the Film: The Role of Octave in the Rules of the Game, Quarterly Review of Film Studies, 7(3), Summer 1982
6. Ginette Vincendeau: The Exception and the Rule, Sight and Sound, vol.2, no.8, December 1992:34
7. Laurence Wylie: La Verite Derriere les Masques, quarterly Review of Film Studies, 7(3), Summer 1982

    《游戏规则》所探究的主题大多被认为是对上世纪二三十年代上流社会进行“最后晚餐”的“临摹”，相较而言，雷诺阿在情节设置上似乎也遵循着一套原则——重视周围环境与内心情绪的反差。记者的激情报道、现场围观群众的呐喊、友人奥科迪夫的接待、甚至是飞机的轰鸣声，这种刻意极力营造的欢快气氛就是为了与飞行员朱利出场后的悲观情绪造成强烈的反差。罗伯特与妻子克里斯汀的生活在富裕物质条件的包装下显得美满幸福，这种演员式的相处却被导演用一句“上流社会的爱情是两个幻想的交换和两个身体的接触”打破，接着又赤裸裸地、近乎没有过渡地将罗伯特与情人的关系展现人前。朱利的撞车也是在近乎毫无预测的观众心理状态下发生，没有过多的情绪渲染，仅有一个忧伤的表情特写，在当代观众看来不得不觉得突兀，但是导演处理情节的方式反而达到一种“陌生化”的效果，时不时让观众从叙事中解脱出来，理性看待事件的发展。导演在处理奥科迪夫与克里斯汀关系的过程中，着意渲染一种亲密无间的友情，观众无法想象克里斯汀在剧终时刻会恳求奥科迪夫与之私奔，另一个原因在于奥科迪夫是一个肥胖笨拙、外表毫无吸引力的人，起码跟朱利和罗伯特没有可比性。罗伯特在猎场新招的家丁是剧作中的关键人物之一，他身上所具有的种种恶习与罗伯特和女仆杰西对他的喜爱格格不入，近乎颠倒是非。剧中设置的所有人物在叙事前后几乎都没有转变，雷诺阿并不是讲目光聚焦于一个人物，而是一群人，只有飞行员朱利可以算是一个特例，他是唯一一个敢于直视自己内心的角色。

    一次上流社会的聚会将所有人物聚集在一起，上演了一出悲喜交加的闹剧。从剧作合理的层面讲，如何让朱利合理地加入这次聚会是一个难题，按照正常事理，罗伯特明显知道克里斯汀与朱利有些许暧昧关系，奥科迪夫看似对双方进行了调解，但是却没有实质解决这层矛盾的行动。换句话说，导演甚至觉得这种关系在上流社会没有任何矛盾可言。在聚会中，当杰西的丈夫发现新来的家丁与杰西有暧昧关系，下层之间的暗涌与上层之间的狂欢交织在一起，虽然从情绪上看似削弱了矛盾冲突，但是这种外在形式的对比本身就是一种冲突，甚至效果更加强烈。朱利的死是一个精妙的设计，也是一个震撼的结局。当杰西的丈夫开枪的那一刹那，似乎一切都结束了，一切矛盾都解开了，因为他帮这个本身安于现状的社会除掉了一个异类，即使是一个畸形的社会。而他只能算作一个枪手，真正的凶手是所有人。

    “悲的极致与喜的极致是一种表情”，这种悲喜交加的极致体验正是导演希望带给观众的，情节的巧合、急转与反差是造成这种感受的规则，也是雷诺阿创作《游戏规则》的剧作规则。

昨天上课老师放了《游戏规则》。
其实，早就知道《公民凯恩》《战舰波将金》《游戏规则》被称为最伟大的三部电影。
但是却一直不肯好好的看。
放到“骷髅舞”那个段落时候，我全心的被惊呆了。
我是一个没有方向感和空间概念的人，
我看电影的时候很难画出场面调度图，也意识不到镜头是如何移动的，
我只能傻乎乎的惊在那里，张大了嘴巴。

实在是太棒了啊！
就像是狐仙出现一样，让人目不转睛，赞叹欢喜。

以前我的电影启蒙老师曾经跟我说过一句雷若阿的话，我非常喜欢：
“破旧的阁楼楼梯也能通往睡美人的城堡。”

今天老师讲了一句雷若阿的话同样精彩：
“戏剧在哪里结束，现实就在哪里开始。”

伟大的时代总有伟大的电影，而这些电影往往分2类，一类开启了一个新的时代，如《火车大劫案》，《一个国家的诞生》，《精疲力尽》，《偷自行车的人》。。。。。。

另一类电影则代表了一个时代，一个电影时期的终结，如〈贞德的受难〉，〈卡利亚里之夜〉。。。。。。

〈游戏规则〉就是这样一部电影，它代表了雷诺阿辉煌的法国时期的结束，整个30年代从诗意写实到写实到“左派”到和平主义，最后，雷诺阿拍制了这部他称为“喜剧”的重要电影。这部电影同时也是对战前有声电影的总结，更代表了一个时代的终结——属于贵族时代的历史将彻底结束。

尽管雷诺阿只把这部作品看作是自己对古典喜剧的野心尝试，影片的故事也确实有着狄德罗时代喜剧的外貌，但是，明显影片并不止步于此，雷诺阿也承认，他一直在对腐朽的社会做批判，不管导演是否有意，我们在影片里看到的是最后贵族的没落，对社会现实的批判，正因为如此，39年的观众把此片看为对统治阶级的攻击，雷诺阿费尽心思的影片遭到他一生最惨痛的失败，雷诺阿本人称为生平最大的耻辱，好在战后这部影片的价值得到了承认，在威尼斯，影片座无虚席。雷诺阿高兴的看到自己曾经的耻辱是值得的。

雷诺阿在这部影片里给总结了他他贯穿整个30年代的个人风格——

1。深焦调度，前景和后景的事件同时发生，后景向前景的运动使得我们看到不同事件同时发生，观众自己选择了注意力。同时也随着运动和演员的视线，声音，表现了开放的画外空间。

2。庞大复杂的运动，可以说本片的摄影机基本没停过，随着一个个段落镜头，我们看到了精彩的叙事，这些镜头没有好莱坞的轴线限制，同时保证着影片的节奏（这部影片的节奏明显是分段式的）同时运动的规律又有着完美的平衡。

3。精彩的场景调度，配合着摄影机的运动，影片中的人物也在环境里不停的运动，他们在别墅里穿插走动，尤其是舞会和其后的众人冲突而乱做一团形成叙事的高潮。摄影机和演员的场景调度让人惊叹的完美，即便是在今天也没有这么精彩的长时间段落镜头。

4。叙事格调的突然转变，这是雷诺阿最显著的个人风格，从悲剧到喜剧，叙事的格调在雷诺阿的影片里会出现突然的转变看似不连贯而又混然天成，溶为一体（〈乡村一角〉可以视为代表），如——片中某些喜剧性的段落是按追逐片的节奏来处理的；另一方面，在索罗纽打猎的情景则好象为纪录片提供了一个残酷悲惨的主题。

这4个个人风格是时刻结合在一起的（说明这些其实需要更细致的例子分析和图片），达成一种形式，形式就是内容，影片给了观众全知的视点，从而让他们跟随摄影机，跟随着演员进入腐朽，无聊的上层社会，了解社会虚伪的“游戏规则”。

影片展现了欧洲贵族的最后没落，这些上层人物过着空虚无聊而又奢华生活，在一个个感情游戏中打发日子，他们无法确定自己的感情，也无法控制事态，男男女女们互相在面具下过着虚伪的生活。而这一切都建立在一个“游戏规则”上，那就是——谎言。

说谎就是“上流社会”的法则，从媒体到个人，大家都精心编制着保护伞式的谎言，在明亮的场合，人人在掩饰真相，而似下他们则另有一套，人们相互欺骗，影片中“诚实”的飞行员违背了这个法则，在结尾，他就被暗中射来的子弹打死了，而引发一系列悲喜剧在上层社会出现的无业者（由雷诺阿本人饰演），偷猎者，飞行员为了使一切恢复到正常秩序，在故事结束时这些人就统统被清除了（死亡，离开）。

影片很明显的表现了贵族阶层的没落，他们已经走向自己时代的终点，他们的“游戏规则”已经变成了一系列掩盖自己的谎言，影片的最后，主人掩盖了死亡事件的真相，让大家早点安睡，他走进屋子，走进最后虚伪的掩盖，他们对外部世界的告别标志着由贵族阶层主导统治的欧洲历史走到了尽头，尽管片子并没有替代他们的强有力的人物形象。

在雷诺阿的影片中，没有邪恶的人物，正如片中的名言“每个人都有自己的理由。”这句话也成为雷诺阿影片的代表。

人物与环境的完美结合，鲜明的个人风格，复杂庞大的布景和运动造就了这部伟大的喜剧，而这喜剧中蕴涵着的悲剧正如片中的一个场景，雷诺阿扮演的角色在一个虚拟的舞台表演，他面对不存在的观众兴致勃勃的做了几个动作，最后失落的坐在台阶上，片中所有人物都是如此，面对这“游戏规则”，他们是那么厌恶现实，想要逃避，却无能为力。。。