Critics reviews

Renoir let his cast improvise during the shoot, and the dichotomy between the chaotic narrative and meticulously-planned long takes gives the picture the documentary feel that Altman film would emulate.

Jean Renoir’s masterpiece remains the gold standard against which all ensemble dramas are measured. Renoir juggles a number of major characters and honors each one’s perspective, resulting in a group portrait in which every character is sympathetic while remaining poignantly fallible.

Renoir's operettalike confection is booby-trapped; stupefied revellers fixing their gaze on a player piano as it rattles out the "Danse Macabre" take their place among history's passive victims.

Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game has been part of the film canon for so long that it's valuable to remind audiences how gloriously alive and just plain fun it is. Low comedy walks hand and hand with tragedy and beauty throughout; the film is frothy one minute, nearly apocalyptic the next, and so you're never fully allowed to gather your bearings.