When La Règle du jeu opened in Paris in July 1939, the audience booed, hissed, even attempted to set fire to the cinema. A devastated Renoir said afterwards: "They recognized themselves. People who commit suicide do not care to do it in front of witnesses."

Prepared against the backdrop of Europe's descent into war, Renoir's film is arguably one of the most powerful excavations of a society ever filmed. Based on a 19th century comedy, Les Caprices de Marianne by Alfred de Musset, the film seems to be a comedy of manners not a million miles from a Mitchell Leisen or even Marx Brothers confection of the Hollywood high '30s. Revolving around three love triangles played out in a provincial chateau over one weekend, Renoir's conceit grows richer and more resonant the more times you see it. As Musset's title suggests, this apparently frothy survey of romantic dalliance and class intrigue becomes a portrait of moral decay on a national scale. Shaped by all the social, political and racial resentments that afflicted France throughout the '30s, its tone turns from bubbly to tragic.

Celebrated aviator André Jurieux (Toutain) loves Christine (Gregor), wife to the Marquis de la Chesnaye (Dalio). La Chesnaye is having an affair with socialite Geneviève (Mila Parely). The gamekeeper Schumacher (Gaston Modot), meanwhile, suspects his wife of having an affair with the poacher Marceau (Julien Carette). When La Chesnaye and his guests prepare themselves for une grande fête, a harmless garden romp assumes vicious overtones.

Dalio, Toutain, Modot, Carette; La Règle du jeu feels like a summation of the golden age of French cinema. Running around in a bear costume, Renoir's own go-between Octave is both clown and seer. It is a performance full of generosity, irony and humour and has come to define Renoir and his work. Of a fragmenting status quo, Octave says: "You know, in this world there's one thing that's terrible, that everyone has their reasons." Words that are as relevant today as they were in 1939.

Too much for a France bracing itself for war, the film was cut by Gaumont and derided by critics. In October La Règle du jeu was banned outright. Its glorious postwar reputation dates from around 1956 when diligent cineastes restored the outtakes. The film was then fêted by the emerging French New Wave at the 1959 Venice Film Festival. Now seen to epitomize the classical deep focus adventure that came to fruition in Citizen Kane and The Best Years of Our Lives, Renoir and cinematographer Jean Bachelet ordered fast lenses especially to keep several planes in view, preserving a rich tapestry of strained interactions as they unfold. In Renoir's words: "It is a war film, and yet there is no reference to the war." Less than a year after that disastrous opening night, France fell to the German tanks. Something of the history of this fascinating film can be felt in the Image par Image TV documentary accompanying this beautiful DVD rendition. Vive la France!

La Règle du jeu is available from Bfi Video on DVD for £19.99. www.bfi.org.uk.

                                                                 © FILM JOURNAL 2002