Who broke the rules and what was the game?

I actually agree that it was Andre and Shaumacer who broke the rules in allowing themselves to "get caught"

Octave decides at the very end not to run away with Christine and allows Andre to go instead. This allows Octave to avoid the fate of death, therefore he wins and Andre loses the "game."

I don't know, I think people tend to over analyze this film.

I think of "the game" as more of a lifestyle" rather than an actual game or even metaphor. Andre does not come from this lifestyle, he is a hero archetype. He does what is morally right above everything else.

While there are a couple of metaphorical layers intimated in this film's title, the overarching point of the movie illustrates (in typical French fashion) the Grand Illusion and Dangerous Liaisons of which everyone willingly partakes, however ambiguous, hypocritical, immoral or inhumane. Unlike the classic game paradigm, there is no winning or losing, and anyone who attempts to do either is simply no longer playing the game. Love, hate, life, death, class warfare, etc., all mere pawns on the board.

In short, the rules of the game are but one: everyone must pretend there are rules and a game. Including the audience.

.02

I think perhaps there are no rules. (all is fair in love and war) As in the pheasant hunting scenes, you see the occasional arguments about whose pheasant it was, etc. - there aren't clear rules. Even poaching isn't against the rules - the poacher gets rewarded, the groundswarden punished when he tries to do his job. I think the whole pheasant game & poaching are metaphors for the love trysts going on. There is the one comment about sincerity being such a "bore" so there is also an argument that at least from one perspective, true love is against the rules that they're playing by. Also, in the end the host is lauded for his excellence and handling of the situation, it could be argued that he, in his charming civility, kept his head and played the game the best. Just my two cents.

I think it's so hard to identify who did NOT follow "the rules of the game", because who did/didn't isn't the point of the film. The point rather is who started the film not really buying into the rules of the game, but ended the film fully supporting them (and being imprisoned by them:-). It doesn't work to identify who DID follow "the rules of the game" _all_the_time_ either, because pretty much nobody did - many of the humorous situations involve someone who follows the rules of the game most of the time messing up badly.

"The rules of the game" are not about morality (such as the Ten Commandments) nor about any code of conduct (such as "chivalry"), but rather simply that one should keep up polite appearances no matter what. (Even Robert loses it at one point and throws a punch, something that's definitely against the rules. But a few minutes later he apologizes for throwing the punch and casually converses about his wife leaving him.) The rules are followed more discreetly/genteelly by the folks upstairs, and rather broadly/comically by the folks downstairs. (As was the case in any manor house, the folks downstairs bought into and aped the manners and values of the folks upstairs, not the manners and values of the working proletariat that nowadays we'd think were more closely related to them.)

Most everyone is a "member of high society". In the film there are three obvious outsiders/wannabes: Jurieux, Marceau, and Octave. They mostly don't adequately understand the rules of the game. So of course their behavior doesn't fit the rules very well. By the end of the film, all three are excluded from further attempts to fit into high society; one is murdered, one is fired and banished, and one leaves permanently in resignation.

The person whose attitudes toward the "rules of the game" shift dramatically during the film is _Christine_. Even though she's a member of high society, at the beginning of the film she doesn't much buy into its rules. This is symbolized externally by her being a foreigner, not a "real" Parisian, and speaking with an accent. Her conversations persistently show her questioning of the rules. She says she "completely trusts" Robert, even though it's clear she shouldn't and though everyone else knows he's having an affair. Robert smooths over a potential flash point by excusing Jurieux's behavior as his having simply misinterpreted Christine's friendliness. But Octave actively berates Christine for being too innocently friendly and so inviting such misinterpretation; soon enough he tells her straight out that showing too much friendship with a man simply isn't allowed at all. Christine -apparently truthfully and innocently- asks Lisette about friendships with men, but Lisette is so startled by the question she thinks is ridiculous that all she can answer is "when pigs fly".

Lots of events and misunderstandings throughout the film cause Christine's attitudes to shift, until by the end of the film she finally fully buys into the rules. (One could even say that her initial doubts about the rules have occasioned the misunderstandings that wind up strengthening them:-) When walking back across the bridge she tells her niece Jackie that "people are watching". She's going to go into the chateau for the night and not leave, fully support Robert's cover story, actively participate in the sham ceremonies for Jurieux, grieve for the "hero" but not the "friend", and not say anything that might make anyone suspect she felt differently.

From what I can tell, the main rule is not to take these little affairs seriously. I think that's implied in the poem at the very beginning of the movie that mentions change and why should we blame Cupid for fluttering about - something like that anyway. I think this group regards love as a game, and when one takes it seriously, then it becomes THE violation of the rules. I think most of the people in the movie violated the "rules" at one point or another during the stay at the country house. Probably the biggest violator was the aviator and his friend (played by Renoir) as I think the both took their respective situations seriously and that is what ultimately led to the violence.