MovieChat Forums > La règle du jeu (1950) Discussion > The end reactions to (spoiler) made no f...

The end reactions to (spoiler) made no f*+#ing sense

posted 16 years ago by Shipep15201
9 replies | jump to latest

SPOILER

When Andre is shot dead, and Lisette, Jackie, and Octave all "magically knew" it was him, without any care as to what possible misunderstanding took place MADE NO SENSE.

If anything, this huge plothole (or should I say, "realism hole") totally spoiled the end of the film for me. I couldn't get past it. It was too absurd and frustrating.

Yes, the movie is farcical, but this just took the cake. I felt like I was watching a joke.

Anyone else feel this way?

[–] giaou13 15 years ago

I agree with you,but it's not only the very last scene.It's,in fact,the last 7 or 8 minutes of the film that don'y make any sence.I cannot realise why the director chose to interrupt a very well developed farse with the tragic event of someone's death and an equally "tragic" reaction by the guests...

THE WORLD IS YOURS

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Knoxvicious 14 years ago

I didn't get it out flat either, but the meaning seemed to have been implied in the end scene. I've only seen in once, so I don't understand yet, but I'm sure if you watch it more you would understand.

People talk about the hunting scene and relate Andre's death to it, so there's something. Also, the last lines imply something big.

Definetly a movie you need to see twice to get everything. (On the deeper level)

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] jtyroler 13 years ago

It makes a difference in the version you see. In the 81 minute version, part of the build up to Andre's being shot has been cut. It almost seems like Octave has set Andre up. In the longer, 1959 version, you have a much better idea of what happens and it makes more sense. Christine is wearing Lisette's cloak (with the hood up) that Schumaker had bought for her. Octave was known for flirting with Lisette and she was known for her flirting. Schumaker was quite possibly the only person faithful in his marriage in the whole movie. One way it resembles the hunting scene, besides Andre's running towards someone with a gun, is how nonchalant everyone reacts to his death - just like all the pheasants and rabbits.

[–] nihilistic_tyranny 13 years ago

This isn't some sort of plot hole. I know it's a bit sudden and shocking, but it's a culmination of the points Renoir is trying to make with the entire film. It seems very anti-climactic on a surface level, but really the reaction to the murder is the climax itself. It's a way of externalizing the climax of the film, and it works well. The fact that you wrote such a hateful post and reacted in such a way is a testament to Renoir's filmmaking. That's pretty much how you're supposed to react, though there's a pre-war perspective here that I think you're missing.

In short, it feels like an inconsistency, but it's actually very consistent with the rest of the film. That's the mark of great filmmaking.

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law!

[–] morgan_gibson87 12 years ago

That's the thread underlying the film. Bourgeois society is a farce. It undermines life in favour of death. The hunting scene, the non-reactions of the guests to the very real quarrels of the servants, the obsession with 'the rules of the game' and the non-reaction to Andre's death all point us to this conclusion. When people are reduced to things, when people are reduced to instruments and commodities take precedence over life, the result is nihilism.

That's why the General's final line about the Marquis 'having class' is so profound. Because to be respectable in class society means renouncing passion and renouncing life in favour of death.

We must not check reason by tradition, but contrawise, must check tradition by reason - Leo Tolstoy

[–] chuck-526 12 years ago

The heard gunshot was clearly outside. It's nighttime and almost everyone in the party is inside (in fact we just saw many of them go into their bedrooms). Everyone is aware there are very few people outdoors. Octave and Lisette just saw Andre go out the door, though, and conclude quite reasonably if something happened outside he was probably involved. So it seems to me there's nothing magical about their "knowing" who had been shot.

Jackie has been in a swoon over Andre for the entire movie and can't think about anything else, so she immediately -rather wildly- guesses the person that's been shot is Andre. Her rather wild guess is confirmed as actually being correct. It seems to me there's nothing magical about that either.

None of this has anything to do with knowing about the mistaken identity or in any way understanding how it happened. What's the problem?