"The Rules of the Game"

Never really saw myself enjoying a French black-and-white film from the late 1930s... and yet here I am. Today in Reading Film we watched Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game, a somehow simultaneously scathing and charming look at upper class society in France pre-WWII. Everyone has their spouse as well as multiple lovers; that much is accepted. But Renoir's story masterfully unravels each person's carefully crafted existence by the end, and you're left with little but pity for their aching hearts. Jean Renoir is actually the son of the Impressionist painter Auguste Renoir, and in addition to directing the film brilliantly plays a major part as Octave, a sort of outside observer among the elite who has gotten in a little too deep.

I am also listening to "Viva la Vida" on repeat. I'm going to be sick of it soon, but not yet.