Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Harmonia (A) on January 01, 2007 at 21:23:31

In Reply to: Rules of the Game -- Best movie ever made? posted by clarkjohnsen on January 1, 2007 at 11:08:38:

Chicago is what passes for civilization in easy driving distance of Indianapolis. Lord, what a joy to see Rules of the game on the big screen with a large audience!

The Music Box Theater was nearly full for the 2pm matinee, a nice mix of fans as well as people who were seeing it for the first time. There was applause at the end, very gratifying. Even more gratifying was the fact that two friends I dragged with me (people who would never go to a subtitled film on their own) were quite impressed: "that was a really good film" and "this one is the template isn't it" and "I want to buy this on DVD).

There's no question in my mind that RotG is one of the greatest films ever made - it happens to be my personal favorite - but I doubt that there is any such as animal as "the best movie ever made". (If there were, RotG would probably get my vote.) I have the Criterion DVD - I've been waiting for years for it and it's one of my movie treasures.

I noticed many of the same things about ROTG as you - I had noted, of course, many years ago that the character Robert Cheyniest looked Jewish, but this time I was quite struck by the way his character is written and the comments other characters make about him. Sitting amid people new to the film, I was struck again (as were you) by the frank dialogue and its power to bite. Octave's remark about lies induced a twitter of laughter in the Chicago audience - I give them credit for knowing which institutions are culpable.

One thing I had quite forgotten about RotG seeing it on the small screen for so many years are the exquisite and dead-on costumes by Coco Channel. Interestingly, friends picked up on this right away ("the characters are dressed like their parts").