游戏规则

In The Rules of the Game, the hunting scene foreshadows the murder of Andre. The upper-class with their servants committed the murder, and the weaker is the victim, both the rabbits and Andre who doesn’t suit for this world full of lies. Masters and servants regarded the hunting as a game, in which they obtained entertainment. In the same, when Andre was shot dead, the master replaced “murder” with “coincidence”. For these reasons, the scene of hunting plays an extremely vital role in the whole film. Most obviously, it differs from other scenes in terms of visual style.
In most parts of the film, Renoir is a cool narrator, directing with still shots and panning shots. He admitted that he “wanted the audience to have the impression they were seeing a single shot following the people and that there had not been any cutting” . When Octave is guided into Christine’s bedroom, to the living room with Robert, and to the hall with the server , the scenes are mainly quite long and moving in panoramas. No careful close-ups revealing the spirit status of people. Renoir’s camera is just like an observer watching a show from a long distance. Similarly, throughout the last part of the film, the murder, the camera even gets trapped in a corner, where it is forced to watch the action from a fixed position. No intervene to break the long action, no agony when the murder happens. Renoir observed it in a half amused and half anxious way.
However, the hunting scene is an exception. It’s the fastest-pace scene in the film with a lot of cuttings. Initially, it requires fast rhythm when shooting the scene of rabbits running and birds flying. Moreover, the scene constantly cuts between different running rabbits and the hunters, in order to make a tense atmosphere for the rabbits and an enjoyable atmosphere for the hunters. Thus the contrast forms.
Also, it uses much more close-ups than the other scenes. The extremely wonderful close-up is a dying rabbit, even struggling to kick its legs like a kind of dancing. It’s vivid and cruel to represent it with a totally complete and clear close-up as long as 3 seconds, which puts the misery before death directly in front of us, scares us and arouses our sympathy.
The fast cutting and the close tracking of the rabbits imply the hunting scene is no longer Renoir’s calm description from an angle of observer. Actually, we can rarely see any other scenes filled with feelings like this one. Even the murder scene is designed to be as less objective and less striking as possible. But the result turns out to be infectious and impressive, which should owe to the hunting scene, as a metaphor of the murder, attracts more attention than the murder.
The hunt scene tells more about the murder than the murder scene itself. In the hunting, the wealthy masters act as murders, and the servants as accomplices. The servants drive the rabbits and birds to a certain direction for their masters, and the masters enjoy the feast of killing. In terms of the form, this “outdoors” scene has a lot in common with the “inner” world of the mansion.
Just like the rabbits running here and there, Andre, Robert, Christine, Lisette, the gamekeeper Schumacher and the poacher Marceau hide-and-seek in the same way. The hiders want to escape just like the rabbits do, all of them risking their lives with guns pointed to them.
The chateau is holding a big show, at the same time, a chasing show is on display. It’s so ridiculous and ironic a scene that wealthy masters and servants in tidy and noble clothes chased each other like hunters and frightened animals. No wonder the spectators who were watching the show regard it totally as part of the acting. Spectators didn’t take it seriously, just as a game.
Like the chaos during the hunting, inside the mansion there’s a big mess. The relationship among people is complicated, unexpected people joining the chasing game. Some were sad, mad, and some were terrifically delighted, correlated with people’s reaction after the hunting.
The mostly important quality in common between the outside hunting and the inside chasing is that, in essence, it’s the people who get control of weapon control the game. In face of guns, fastest rabbits can only survive due to luck. The gunman is also bound to shoot somebody, who turns out to be Andre, the most innocent one in the bloody game. Why is Schumer, the gamekeeper designed to shoot Andre dead? Because he is the gamekeeper, who puts the game in order and tells people to follow the rules with his gun. The word “gamekeeper” is a kind of metaphor itself. Faced with the coming World War II the society was like a huge hunting game, where who has the weapons controls the game.
Renoir commented on The Rules of the Game that “it’s a film about a group, a film representing a society.” A society that “everything they believed in was collapsing” . “It’s not so difficult to work well when the compass of anxiety points in the true direction.” However, this movie was a resounding flop after releasing because of this true direction revealed in the movie.
The Rules of the Game was made just before the war. Renoir said in making it, he had wanted to make a film in which French society was seen as “dancing on a volcano”. And beneath its seemingly innocuous appearance the story attacks the very structure of society.
Renoir preferred to let actors play in the décor and catch them unawares. The camera established a “narrator” whose stance and gestures express an inhuman indifference to the human figures within its world. The suffering and joys of the inhabitants of that world move us, although the camera frames that world as if it were inhabited by puppets, not people. For example, we never know Christine well although she is the main role. What she thinks? What she wants? Most of the characters are too mysterious to dig out.
The only exception is Andre. At the very beginning sequence, Andre came back as a hero, but burst out truth, unable to conceal his emotions. There are master level, servant level and bottom level (as Marceau), but there’s no level that Andre belongs to, because he is the only honest person in the movie. Robert is tired of love affairs with his mistress. Christine says I love you to three different men since she knew Robert’s betrayal, which are neither true nor totally false. Lisette is the mistress of Octave and she flirts with Marceau. Octave, Andre’s honest friend, wants to occupy Christine by his own. It’s a world full of lies, and survival of the fittest. Octave comments Andre is floating in the air while Robert is on the ground. At last the most honest person is out of game and Andre’s murder is covered with another lie of “incidence”.
The Rules of the Game is a continuous integrity, full of metaphors and poetic rhythms. Among them the hunting scene is worth discovering. It differs from the other scenes with a fast cutting and represents extremely strong emotions. The wealthy masters as well as their servants regard shooting as a game, and replace murder with incidence. The mess both inside and outside of the mansion shows a world of lies, dangerously living on and on.


References:
1. Jean Renoir: Renoir on Renoir, News, Essays and Remarks, Translated by Carol Volk, Cambridge University Press, 1989
2. Andre Bazin: Jean Renoir, Simon and Shuster New York, first published in France in 1971 English translation in 1973
3. Jean Renoir: My life and my Films, William Collins & Sons an Atheneum Publishers Inc
4. Peter Wollen: La Regle du jeu and Modernity, first published in Film Studies, 1,1999. Reprinted in Wollen’s Paris Hollywood: Writings on Film. Verso, 2002
5. William Rothman: The Filmmaker Within the Film: The Role of Octave in the Rules of the Game, Quarterly Review of Film Studies, 7(3), Summer 1982
6. Ginette Vincendeau: The Exception and the Rule, Sight and Sound, vol.2, no.8, December 1992:34
7. Laurence Wylie: La Verite Derriere les Masques, quarterly Review of Film Studies, 7(3), Summer 1982

从一开始便片刻不停的摄影机位置，飞快的对白速度，像黑白默片里夸张到神经质的肢体语言。画面本身和修复后的胶片一起跳动，人物本身和爱意的表达都显得癫狂错乱，需要高速运转才能跟得上它的节奏。

直到影片进行大半时才渐渐适应节奏，故事在变成文字叙述时总变得有些平淡，错综复杂的关系至多会变成一个饶眼的逻辑题便草草收场，可当画面开始移动，所有的东西都变得荒诞不可思议起来。就像剧中那个高潮的夜晚，舞台上灯光渐暗，亲见开始自己跳动，骷髅的舞蹈和迅速位移的聚光灯将主角们一一网罗在视线中，欢快得哭闹跑动，在地上翻滚挣扎。配角、第三者。直到最后在枪响下匪夷所思的悲伤。


前几日看的《米兰心事》和《德州巴黎》的结尾也都是如此无端得停顿，却只有它显出一种阿加莎式的结束态度。一个偶然的误会，一个意外的悲剧，所有夸张的形体都停顿在空中，成为塑像。字幕出现，一个个人偶归置完全，待到下一次出场拧上发条又重新活泼得动作起来。


摄影机始终位于所有事件的外缘，像爱好收集各种八音盒的男主人公最为得意的那台机器，音乐一起所有人在盒中起舞，有意思的是，主人公们的面容往往在远处远远小小，而八音盒里的人偶们却无比尊严清晰的样子。晚会上机器出现故障，反复不断的长音把脑袋中原已形成的逻辑完全打乱，摄影机也走了音一样跟着人群在房子里飞舞旋转，目不转睛。

看过这部电影，立即让人想到法国古典文学的优秀叙事传统。说的具体些，很像福楼拜，对情绪的巧妙拿捏，情节上的环扣设置，自然和流畅的叙述手法，和在阶级分析中渗透出的一种悲观的视点，都是如出一辙。历史地位也是旗鼓相当——当谈及法国文学和法国电影，谁能忽略《包法利夫人》和《游戏规则》呢？

作为诗意现实主义的代表，由让.雷诺阿去改编缪塞的作品真的是再合适不过了，一方面是与生俱来的浪漫主义情绪，一方面是细致深刻的心理探究，两人的作品有相匹配的气质。对于《游戏规则》来说，故事的本质并不复杂，是关于特定社会阶层秩序从扰乱到重建的过程。但是讲述的结构则足够精巧，在形形色色的男女中，欺瞒与贪欲，嫉妒与失望，种种丰富的情绪不断架构着人物间的关系。通过自然的不加评判的叙述，力求展现一个阶层，在幕前幕后的全部面貌。这种细腻的情感记叙，和《一个世纪儿的忏悔》十分相似。这种叙述完全是现实主义的叙述，流畅而不着痕迹，但能生动完整的表现镜头下人物的性格，而这种鲜明的人物性格则间接反映了导演的创作情绪。时而是悲剧，时而是喜剧、闹剧，雷诺阿娴熟控制着电影的叙事情绪，通过巧合、突变制造着戏剧冲突，而将观众不断引向一个全新的境界，成就了一篇伟大的悲喜剧。

这个故事的核心就是谎言，于是在场景中就形成了真实的与表象的两个主要舞台。在公开而明亮的场景中，人物反而是都带有面具的，口是心非的掩饰形象。而在黑暗的舞台中，才能显现出真实的欲望，进行龌龊的行为。于是便形成了一种巧妙的错位，光明下的虚伪做作，黑暗中的丑陋欲念，究竟是哪一种才更加可鄙？这种深刻的矛盾则隐藏在更深刻的阶级关系下，阶级间有着鸿沟，有着不可打破的秩序。无论是突破行为的矛盾，还是逾越阶级的鸿沟，都是不被允许的。安德森则是典型的违背这种种秩序的人物，在公开的场景中（跨越大洋凯旋归来）他要表达真实的心声，为冲动的情欲而进行所谓人类的壮举。而在众人背后，决定与克里斯蒂娜私奔时，却会碍于道义而要与罗贝尔作正面的对决。安德森的行为在冲击着秩序的悖论，而他的阶级属性（远非大资产阶级或封建贵族阶级）也与庄园内的阶级世界如此不谐。于是他的命运只能是消亡，用死亡来重新换取整个秩序的形成。可笑的是执行这“公理”的则是来自更卑微的阶级的舒马歇，小市民阶级与大资产阶级共同的市侩性取得了统一。正是这种可鄙的一致性，造成了法国1799和1870的悲剧，也造就了雷诺阿在这部作品里的悲观情绪。正如奥斯塔夫在无人的台阶前的自我入戏，是一种无奈而孤单的悲哀。

雷诺阿对电影发展做出的贡献确实是无与伦比的，在某种程度下是他升华了电影作为艺术的格调与品质。他所推崇的深焦摄影，全景与中近景的积极搭配，更长而更全面的镜头，区别于蒙太奇学派，催生了巴赞的长镜头理论。也获得了对电影语言的另一种引导方式，即用镜头去做不加评判的叙述，诱使观众去做积极的思考。而对光影的魅力的发掘，用光的考究，讲求场面调度的效果，则使电影向视觉艺术层面的开拓大幅深入。在《游戏规则》中，无论是庄园舞台中绚烂豪华的表演——尤其是死神的舞蹈一段迷人的对比效果，还是捕猎一段深具自然主义情绪的猎兔景象，或是舞会闹剧中的仿佛默片追逐戏效果的复杂而清晰的镜头运动， 都对之后的电影发展产生了重大的影响。虽然历经种种磨难，《游戏规则》是作为一部完美的电影存在于电影史上的。

  Renoir是“诗意现实主义电影大师”，窃以为，所谓诗意现实主义电影，就是将内在的自然主义风格和表象的形式主义风格糅合在一起其实质是饱含着对现实世界的关注和爱的电影表现形式.此片绝对可以称为Jean Renoir诗意现实主义作品的代表作。
  我看的是电影于1959年重映的版本，导演在篇首语中告诉我们，“电影拍摄于二战前夕的1939年，并非对当时社会道德之研究，且本片人物纯属虚构。” 此话颇有“此地无银三百两的味道”，显然，导演对于自己的电影有意或无意中预见到了法国上层社会在二战中的崩溃感到些许得意，他完全有理由得意，导演用感性的，诗意的，又充满形式美感的镜头语言给我们描绘了一个充斥着奢华的外表，却实际上空虚，腐朽的法国上层社会的图景。他们的聚会充满了无聊，空洞的对话，庸俗的戏剧，残忍的狩猎和“奇技淫巧”（男主人Robert对机械钟的疯狂热爱）。 他们没有对爱情，（“所谓上层社会的爱情，就是两个幻想的交融和两个肉体的接触。”）友情的追求，有的只是对自身利益的追求和保留所谓面子的重要性。活脱脱一个“忽喇喇之大厦将倾”的图景。
  电影中对所谓法国下层社会的人们是带着某种赞许的，虽然电影中的那些下层社会的仆人们也沾染了他们的主人们爱说人小道消息的习气，但是他们努力工作，充实的过着每一天的生活。电影中惟一被表现为反面人物的，是好吃懒做，勾人妻女的仆人Marceau,他总是受到主人Robert的庇护，真所谓一丘之貉。我们甚至可以从导演的镜头语言中看出来，有着许多上层社会人物出现的镜头里，总是充满着不规则且凌乱的人群，导演在此明显暗示着他们的不团结，和乌合之众的实质。但有着那个守林人Schumacher和自己的仆人队伍出现时，镜头里总是有着整齐划一的美感。此中深意一看便知。
  电影的结局具有某种”悲惨的讽刺性”，两个在电影中对爱执着，对爱真诚的人物一个成了杀人犯（Schumacher），一个成了被杀者（André）。在这个虚伪的社会里，真诚是一个玩不起的东西。
  

 《游戏规则》中男主角朱利约死于同是底层阶级的庄丁舒马赫枪下。讽刺的是虽然罪魁是所谓上流社会的游戏规则，可在一连串蝴蝶效应下，误杀惨剧只发生在两个棋子间。表面上没有谁是刻意蓄谋者，真正兵不血刃的大杀局隐匿在上流社会的声色犬马中。正是一人被杀，众生都是共犯，最可怕的是这种戕害是一种对生命无声无息的抹杀，是心照不宣的意会。联想到布努埃尔在《自由的幻影》的超现实表述中有一个隐藏在闹市中的狙击手，随意射杀行人，却被法律豁免。《游戏规则》的故事发生在20世纪初，20世纪末布努埃尔又把现代性的谋杀演绎成无足轻重的屠戮，这是自19世纪末20世纪初资本大洗牌后的渐进发展中，人类在现代社会中逐渐理性化、世俗化直至异化（如迈克尔哈内克《第七大陆》中表现的中产阶级畸形行为），最终呈现出与以往时代不同的毁灭方式。
  关于时代的划分，历史学家、社会学家们所取的时间轴坐标和研究方向不同，不同地域、每个阶段的跨度也就不同。我们习惯性把自己当前生活的时代称为“现代”，有社会学者将文艺复兴的启蒙称为现代曙光的标志，实际我们这里以工业革命来作为坐标，是资本发展到一定程度引发产业和科学技术大革新时代的开启，一时间科技革命、金融危机、世界性大战争在20世纪伊始接踵而至，人类在谋求更好生存方式的同时也改变了死亡的模式，从本片的的惨案中截取一个视角的点，来看看不同的时代的死亡：
   暂且把欧洲的发展历程断代为：古典时代、中世纪和现代。联想到古希腊的阿基米德之死，在那个社会关系相对单纯的城邦时代，阿基米德死于一个鲁莽而急躁的罗马士兵刀下，死前的阿基米德正在作算术，他的最后一句话“走开，别弄坏了我的图形”是因为士兵影响了他的演算。这简直是一个理想化的孩子夭折似的死亡，受害者和犯人间的关系也极为单纯。而在现代社会全然不同的制度、规则下那种伊卡洛斯式的古典式理想化浪漫必定是要被取代的，在资本的导向下，熙熙攘攘皆为利来利往使人为的行动的呈现一种自我趋向性，而这种必须考虑后果的行为规范必须要受理性化控制，而不是理想化。《游戏规则》中的朱利约想用飞机飞越大洋的壮举去真正征服上流社会女子的芳心，也注定像伊卡洛斯被焚化的人工蜡翼一样，理想化死于理性化之手。让雷诺阿自己也在最终借自演角色之口说出了：你必须理解，现代的英雄都是一样的，在空中，他们是神奇的，可回到地面，他们虚弱，贫穷而无助，就如小孩一样笨拙，他们能飞越大西洋，却无法穿过行人交叉路外的一条街。
   注意到一个细节，片中上流社会的代表罗伯特在与情妇热纳维埃芙逢场作戏、谈情说爱时分别站在家中收藏的艺术品东方佛像前并被作为特写镜头展现。不知道这是不是让雷诺阿的一个小隐喻，侧面映射宗教自中世纪以来，从无处不在的统治地位逐渐退化。中世纪的死亡是带有迫害和扼杀性质的，是宗教权威赤裸裸的对人本位以及自然科学探究欲的镇压，比如哥白尼、伽利略、布鲁诺的死亡。现代的人本位和社会本位取代了王权和宗教，同时也把赤裸排异的权力规则隐性化为类似游戏一样的人际规则。于是毫无信念可言的情爱被信誓旦旦的交易，甚至死亡也像是导戏一般，可怕的是无论是谎言还是谋杀都若无其事的悄然发生。
    现代社会的奇怪在于：在人的价值被最大化认可后又呈现出贬值的混乱状态。现代社会一边倡导自由平等，推动社会发展的资本一边不均等发展，类似托马斯品钦提过的社会熵是在呈现一种蓬勃的高发展高耗散的高熵阶段，而熵増的过程又注定是混乱无序的。在《游戏规则》中浮华的名流、虚荣的仆人、圈外的参与者都在争风吃醋、默许交易、滥情虚伪中粉墨登场。对收藏机械工艺品的癖恋，脱不下的兽皮表演装，舞台上身着骷髅服目迷五色的表演，猎杀野味的隐喻，以及杀人案结束后映在庄园别墅墙上犹如鬼魅的阴影，这些无一不在暗示人本位在自矜与骄傲中的一种异化，让雷诺阿用冷静而又全面的镜头语言不夸张的展现某种怪诞的萌芽。无法适应怪诞的集体规则本就注定会成为众人眼中的怪胎，现代社会的猎杀目标也正在于此。
    王小波在关于21世纪的描述中说：理想主义的光芒已经黯淡，人类不再抱着崇高的理想，想要摘下天上的星星，而是把注意力放到现实问题上去。当一切都趋于平淡，人类进入了哀乐中年。《游戏规则》中被杀害的无辜羔羊朱利约正是一个不肯尘埃落定于游戏圈子中的孤绝飞行员，带有某种悲剧英雄的色彩。王小波死于20世纪末，我们生活在他预言的21世纪，让雷诺阿在20世纪初就慨叹了一个天真者的死亡。