5. The Rules of the Game

On the eve of World War II, a group of the wealthy French elite gather together for a weekend of hunting, romantic misunderstandings, and murder.

I checked this one out for the first time after hearing it was a touchpoint for Gosford Park, which I had seen shortly before. I keep coming back to it. When I did a write up about villains and evil in movies, when I think about character motivations in general, and when I think about the way people will blind themselves to the dumpster fire igniting next to them if they’re distracted by their own selfish ambitions or appetites.

Like Jean Renoir’s Octave says in the film:

The awful thing about life is this: Everyone has their reasons.

It’s funny. It’s disturbing. And it feels just as potent and relatable now as it must’ve felt when it was first exhibited.