Rules of the GameJune 14, 2010The film Rules of the Game is a very in-depth and unique art that thematically depicts characters playing with the notion of moral codes. What's truly unique about the film is how it literally focuses on appearances while showing what reality actually is. The characters run through the mansions, inside and out, through the woods, embodying music lovers pushing the boundaries of morality and the rules of society without really changing anything; they are stuck and defined by their roles. After reading Jean-Paul Sartre's example of "bad faith", it becomes clear that many characters act according to this form of self-deception. Some examples of this are the pilot who loves in his head but does not recognize the reality of the situation, or the servant who chases another man's wife but actually has no intention of catching her. There is one character in particular, Christine, who represents bad faith in an undeniably deceptive way. Christine, like the young woman on the date, floats through the film without ever denying or recognizing the advances of her multiple “loves”. In the opening scene, the pilot announces his love for her on air and in the middle of her confession, she turns off the radio. She knows he's in love with her, but she laughs about it like it's someone else's reality. In that moment, she made the conscious choice to ignore his advances, after all, they were still just words. The pilot is so distraught that he attempts to end his existence while Christine exists in the moment, flirting with her husband. His old friend Octavo stops by to explainably warn him about how his flirtatious actions provoke certain reactions. She laughs about it without admitting that she...... middle of paper...... uses. Christine is one of them; she does not leave, does not follow her desires but obediently submits to her husband's request. This is definitely a deception, because Christine is truly denying who she is; instead, she plays whatever role she deems necessary to maintain order in her society. It's ironic that the film is named Rules of the Game because the characters run around in fits of chaos trying to change the rules, but in the end nothing changes. The servant never catches the woman; the “other” woman fails to convince the husband to leave his wife and the conductor, Octavo, leaves at the end of the show. The video camera focuses closely on each of the characters, personifying their defined roles and their attempts to break free. They are contained in a prison of illusions and immoral impulses, not accepting that humans have control of their existence..