Monday, February 15, 2010
The Hunt
Perhaps the most famous scene from The Rules of the Game involves the scene in which the Marquis' guest shoot rabbit and pheasant beaten from the forest by the gamekeeper. What is so distinctive and striking about the scene? Why does it pack such an emotional punch? What is the deeper significance or symbolism of this scene?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The scene is so memorable because of how it was delivered in contrast to the rest of the film. While the other scenes have less editing and consist of mainly dialogue to hold our attention, the hunt scene is made up of a bunch of very short clips and hold attention with action and violence. It leaves you trying to grasp what just happened – with images of small forest creatures struggling and twitching freshly implanted in your mind – while the film progresses into more of the same old dialogue.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit the parts of the film where the characters bicker over their relationships and whatnot was starting to bore me, but then it turned almost instantaneously to a bunch of animals getting mercilessly slaughtered, and the film had caught my attention again (albeit barbarically).
This is just an idea, but perhaps the characters are depicted as ruthless hunters (that do not even give the animals a fighting chance by storming them all out of the forest) to complement the fact that they are also compulsive liars, to further degrade the character of stereotypical French during the war. It could even represent a microcosm of the war itself, and have been one of those indirect references that got the moviegoers at the time of its release all riled up, but I’m not sure how.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe hunt scene is not only famous because of its significance in the movie, but also because of its enormous amounts of cuts for one scene. This scene has over 50 different cuts which allow the viewer to see all the different actions going on in the scene. It jumps from the two men arguing over whose pheasant the last shot was, to a rabbit dying in slow motion. These contrasts in cuts show how much is really going on in this scene with almost every character present.
ReplyDeleteSome of these jump cuts hit the audience on an emotional level. One specific scene was the one they end the hunt on. The rabbit is shot and we can see it slowly stop moving its legs as it curls up, taking its last breath. This is emotional for those who care for animals because we don’t like to see them suffer. However it relates back to the end of the movie when Jurieu is shot. He is like the rabbit because he walked into the trap in some sense. The rabbit was set up for the hunt when they beat the trees. Jurieu was set up when Shumacher gives him his coat to wear and sends him off to meet Christine. Although Shumacher did not set his friend up on purpose, it still is a similar situation to the rabbit for which we felt so deeply for.
** I meant Octave not Shumacher.
ReplyDeleteThis scene is so famous because it is so gruesome but its cinematography is remarkable. The scene would never pass in today's world because of its animal cruelty to rabbits and birds. Many people would hate watching it because animal cruelty is greatly looked down upon in today's society. However, I do not believe that Jean Renoir was trying to say that rabbits are useless and are needed to be removed. This scene I believe froshadows what is on the horizon for France. Tensions between France and Germany have become so thick that war was inevitable. Renoir uses this massascre to symbolize this upcoming war. He feels many inocent civilians (the rabbits) will be running for their lives while Germans (the hunters) will snipe them out like rabbits in a field.
ReplyDeleteThe other reason why this scene is so infamous is because of its cinematography. Throughout this movie, 1 take would be a good 20 seconds maybe longer. This scene, the camera would split to a different screen at least 40 times. This scene was only about 2 minutes long. The use of so many different camera movements in such a short amount of time was unheard of back then. The use of these effects is so deeply effective that it is impossible to not find this scene moving and horrifying.