One has to put it that if one discusses Jean Renoir's masterpiece, La Règle du jeu (The Rules of the Game) he or she attempts to teach a lesson in cinema because the film is a lesso itself. The audience, as contemporary as myself, could possibly detain the technical merits of La Règle du jeu, and keep it as it is. But one must surely notice how Renoir used the depth of field in his depiction of life.
Renoir is not intense, but his elaborate use of wide-angle lens hints the audience his distinctive use of cinematic elements to depict the power of cinema to the world with a three-dimensional depth. The Rules of the Game present a remarkable usage of deep focus. This is to primarily emphasize that the world is not flat and static but a dynamic living system. Offscreen elements are as important as those which are located in the background. The space is stretched allthroughout the film. If i could only point to one contemporary film with such attention to detail in the mise-en-scene (Titanic perhaps, or Lord of the Rings), one could think La Règle du jeu is primordial to all that.
Complexity and technical brevity, in the backdrop of a growing cinema, La Règle du jeu is perhaps the most beautiful film i have ever seen.
A notable framing (Top)
Notice deep focus.
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Most eminent usage of deep focus. (2 images below)
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Renoir establishes a shallow focus
to contrast deep focus shots.
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Renoir establishes a shallow focus
to contrast deep focus shots.
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