Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.5

The Rules of the Game 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 14, 2023

Jean Renoir's "La règle du jeu" a.k.a. "The Rules of the Game" (1939) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include a short introduction to the film by the French director; comparative analysis of the different versions of the film; a film program created by film critic and director Jacques Rivette; part one of film critic David Thompson's two-part BBC documentary "Jean Renoir"; interviews; and more. The Blu-ray also arrives with a 40-page illustrated booklet featuring writings by Jean Renoir, Francois Truffaut, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Bertrand Tavernier; an essay by professor Alexander Sesonske; and tributes to the film by various writers and directors. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game is a film with many characters but without a hero. It is also a film without a climax. The focus of attention in it is on the unique atmosphere the characters share, the manner in which they interact with each other. There is a story, but how it starts and how it ends is practically irrelevant.

The film opens up with an event worthy of a celebration. Andre Jurieu (Roland Toutain), a pilot, has just completed a trans-Atlantic flight. He is greeted by hordes of reporters who begin asking him questions. The only thing that is on his mind, however, is the woman he loves. He did it for her, yet she is nowhere to be seen. The missing woman is Christine (Nora Gregor, Olympia, But The Flesh Is Weak), the wife of the wealthy Marquis Robert de la Cheyniest (Marcel Dalio, La grande illusion, Sabrina), who has an affair with the beautiful Geneviève de Marras (Mila Parely, Beauty and the Beast, Le Plaisir).

The heartbroken and angry Andre meets his old friend Octave (played by director Renoir himself), who manages to get him invited to Robert’s lavish hunting party at the villa La Coliniere. Among the guests are also a conservative general (Pierre Magnier, La roue), a few of his best friends, and other local aristocrats.

As preparations for the hunt begin, rumors spread and verbal gossip begins to fly - everyone is convinced that Andre’s presence is a sure sign that Christine will make their affair public. Instead, she announces that Andre is only a good friend, which pleases enormously Robert because he has been seriously concerned that the pilot might steal his wife. Robert then decides to end his affair with Geneviève, to show the guests that he is just as committed to his wife as she is to him - incorrectly assuming that Christine already knows about his affair.

Meanwhile, the staff servicing La Coliniere also gets caught up in a similar game of revelations, which involves Christine’s maid, the bubbly Lisette (Paulette Dubost, Four in a Jeep, Lola Montès), her husband Schumacher (Gaston Modot, L' Age d'Or, Children of Paradise), and the naive thief Marceau (Julien Carette, La Bête Humaine), who has recently started flirting with Lisette.

Renoir’s The Rules of the Game has a very unique form and style inspired by the classic works of Beaumarchais and Musset, as well as a specific narrative structure that no other film from the 1930s has. It does tell a story but not a conventional one - the focus of attention is not on the main characters and the specifics of their dealings but on the social bubble they are sucked into.

The bubble, with its rules and the games the characters play in it, is a metaphor for the strange socio-political vacuum that existed in France during the 1930s. Renoir once said that he specifically targeted the French bourgeoisie with his film, which had completely isolated itself from the dramatic events that were underway before WW2. In the film similar isolation occurs, and at the end a horrific act is greeted with a familiar indifference.

The film is essentially built upon two sets of comparisons. The first targets the various revelations and how they are greeted and commented on by the wealthy guests in La Coliniere. The second places the staff revelations and reactions against those of their masters. Both sets are filled with various political overtones about the then-current class system in France.

The film’s premiere in 1939 was a complete disaster. The French government also wasn’t impressed by its message and banned it. (The Nazis also banned the film once they occupied France). By the late 1950s, however, The Rules of the Game was already considered by many the greatest film ever made.

Note: The original version of The Rules of the Game, which prompted the French government to ban the film, ran at approximately 94 minutes. However, after the film’s disastrous premiere, Renoir reduced it to 81 minutes. During WW2, the original cut of the film was destroyed. In 1959, the film was reconstructed from various surviving elements, with Renoir’s approval. The newly created version, which is also included on Criterion’s Blu-ray, runs at approximately 106 minutes.

The Rules of the Game 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Criterion's release of Rules of the Game is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray is Region-Free. However, the Blu-ray is Region-A "locked".

The following information appears inside the booklet that is provided with this release:

"The original negative for The Rules of the Game was destroyed during a World War II bombing raid. In 1959, with Jen Renoir's approval, the movie was reconstructed by Jean Gaborit and Jacques Durand, resulting in the 106-minute version.

This new 4K digital restoration was undertaken in 4K by the Cinematheque francais and Les Grands Films Classiques, in collaboration with the Criterion Collection/Janus Films and the Cinematheque suisse, with additional funding from Chanel. The image was resotred by Hiventy from the mostly nitrate composite dupe negative. The sound was restored by L.E. Diapason from the nitrate optical soundtrack negative and sound negative from the 1959 mix. Additional audio restoration was completed by the Criterion Collection.

The HD master from 2003, presented on the Blu-ray, was created by the Criterion Collection from a 35mm fine-grain master processed directly from the reconstruction negative pieced together by Gaborit and Durand at the French lab GTC. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from 35mm magnetic audio track. "

Please note that all screencaptures that appear with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray disc and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc.

The Rules of the Game made its high-dentition debut with this release in 2011. The 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack introduces a brand new 4K restoration of the film that was completed in 2021. The basis of this 4K restoration is the 1959 reconstruction of the film. The native 4K presentation has not been graded with HDR/Dolby Vision.

I did various comparisons between the previous 1080p presentation and the new 4K presentation of the new 4K restoration. Also, during these comparisons, I upscaled the previous release to 4K as I was curious to see what type of discrepancies I would notice on my system. Below are my impressions.

The 4K makeover does not produce dramatically superior visuals. Most areas -- including outdoor and indoor footage -- reveal slightly healthier grain field, but density levels remain very similar and often identical to those observed on the previous release. I did observe some improvements in delineation and clarity, but I would describe just about all of them as insignificant. However, I was not surprised that it was so because the previous release offers a very solid presentation of the film. Furthermore, the many obvious limitations of the surviving elements are still very easy to recognize. Most of them affect delineation, clarity, and the overall dynamic range. I expected the 4K makeover to have improved grayscale, but from what I saw on my system, I do not think that most people will see a meaningful improvement. In some areas, I think that the previous release performs slightly better, but because of the inherited limitations, consistency is an issue on both releases. Image stability is very good. There are small but meaningful stability enhancements on the 4K makeover that make some shots look better, but I would describe what I saw as a cosmetic improvement. Surface imperfections have been either minimized as best as possible or completely eliminated. So, given the nature of the surviving elements, I think that the 4K makeover produces a very fine, very healthy presentation of the film. However, I also think that the previous release produces an equally satisfying presentation of the film. If upscaled to 4K, it just about matches the quality of the 4K makeover.

The Rules of the Game 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French LPCM 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio was fully restored by L.E. Diapason, which handles most of the audio restoration work on big projects in France. It sounded very good on my system and I could tell that in some areas -- the stage performance for instance -- it is healthier. However, because of inherited limitations, I do not think that most viewers will conclude that it is clearly superior to the previous audio track. (I refer to the track that is included on the Criterion release of Rules of the Game from 2011).

The Rules of the Game 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - this is the same audio commentary that appeared on Criterion's 2004 DVD release of The Rules of the Game. In it, writer-director Peter Bogdanovich reads a text written by film scholar and Renoir close friend Alexander Sesonske.

BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - this is the same audio commentary that appeared on Criterion's 2004 DVD release of The Rules of the Game. In it, writer-director Peter Bogdanovich reads a text written by film scholar and Renoir close friend Alexander Sesonske.

• Introduction - a short introduction to the film by Jean Renoir. In French, with optional English subtitles. (7 min, 1080i).

• Playing by Different Rules - a comparative analysis of the different versions of The Rules of the Game by film historian and professor of film studies Chris Faulkner (Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada). Also included is the ending of Jean Renoir's 1939 short version of the film.
  
  -- Version Comparison. In English, not subtitled. (14 min, 1080i).
  -- Short Version Ending. In French, with optional English subtitles. (9 min, 1080i).

• Scene Analysis - professor Chris Faulkner comments on two specific scenes from the film. In English, not subtitled.
  
  -- "Public and Private" (6 min, 1080i).
  -- "Corridor" (3 min, 1080i).

• Jean Renoir, Le Patron - a program, one of three, which director and critic Jacques Rivette (La belle noiseuse) created for the French television series Cineastes de notre temps. In it, Jean Renoir discusses the production history of The Rules of the Game, its message, etc. The program first aired on February 8, 1967. In French, with optional English subtitles. (32 min, 1080i).

• Jean Renoir - part one of film critic David Thompson's two-part BBC documentary Jean Renoir. The documentary contains various interviews with Jean Renoir, directors Bernardo Bertolucci and Peter Bogdanovich, professor Alexander Sesonske, and relatives of the legendary French director, and focuses on his childhood years and legacy. In English and French, with optional English subtitles where necessary. (60 min, 1080i).

• Production History - three wonderful video essays addressing the complicated production history of The Rules of the Game.
  
  -- Chris Faulkner. In English, not subtitled. (9 min, 1080i).
  -- Olivier Curchod. In French, with optional English subtitles. (28 min, 1080i).
  -- Gaborit and Durand. In French, with optional English subtitles. (11 min, 1080i).

• Interviews - production designer Max Douy, actress Mila Parely (who plays Genevieve in the film), and Jean Renoir's son, Alain, who worked as an assistant cameraman, recall their experiences making The Rules of the Game. In French and English, with optional English subtitles where necessary.
  
  -- Max Douy (10 min, 1080i).
  -- Mila Parely (17 min, 1080i).
  -- Alain Renoir (19 min, 1080i).

• Booklet - a 40-page illustrated booklet featuring Alexander Sesonske's essay "Everyone Has Their Reasons"; a synopsis for The Rules of the Game written by Jean Renoir; "Jean Renoir on The Rules of the Game", reprinted from the French director's autobiography My Life and My Films (1974); "Henri Cartier-Bresson Remembers", reprinted from Jean Renoir: Letters (1994); "Director's Cut", an appreciation of The Rules of the Game written by director and critic Bertrand Tavernier; an excerpt from a letter Francois Truffaut wrote to Jean Renoir and a short passage from Truffaut's 1981 memoir, The Films in My Life; and a collection of tributes from various writers and directors, including Alain Resnais, Amy Taubin, Wim Wenders, Robert Altman, Cameron Crowe, and others.

The Rules of the Game 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you do not have The Rules of the Game in your collection, this upcoming 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack, which introduces a brand new 4K restoration of the film, is very easy to recommend. But should you consider an upgrade if you already have the previous Blu-ray release of the film that Criterion produced in 2011? If you have a very big screen or project, yes, because you would appreciate the different small improvements that are present on the new 4K makeover. However, the previous Blu-ray release offers a solid presentation of the film too, and this presentation still looks very, very good. The 4K makeover is good but it does not offer a dramatic upgrade in quality because of inherited source limitations. In fact, in many areas, I think that the 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray releases offer equally satisfying presentations of the film. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.