The Rules of The Game - Initial Release and Reception

Initial Release and Reception

The film was initially condemned for its satire on the French upper classes and was greeted with derision by a Parisian crowd on its première. The upper class is depicted in this film as capricious and self-indulgent, with little regard for the consequences of their actions. The French government banned it. In the 1943 edition of his famous Histoire du cinéma, Robert Brasillach wrote that the film was amongst Renoir's most jumbled and confused but applauded the biting satire, which he considered Proustian, and the technical variation employed by the director, ultimately concluding that the film was an unrealised masterpiece.

Renoir was deeply hurt by the initial reception. The French and the Vichy governments banned the film for being "demoralising", and it was removed from every cinema in Paris. After the outraged audience response, distributors demanded that Renoir cut the film drastically. He edited it from 94 minutes to 81 soon after its première. He reduced the role of Octave, which he played, including Octave's brief infatuation with Christine during the ending. The omission of this complication during the ending gave rise to the notion of a "second ending". Roger Manvell's authoritative Film (Pelican Books, 1944, 1950 revision, p. 208) refers to a first London showing in 1946.