Seminar: The Rules of the Game

For so many directors, Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game (1939) taught them the “rules of the game” of great filmmaking.

Jean Renoir was among the most prominent directors of the Golden Age of French Cinema in the 1930s, yet his movies also resonated with filmmakers across multiple periods and geographic spaces. For example, Renoir influenced French auteurs like François Truffaut and Alain Resnais, but he also had a profound effect on filmmakers ranging from Satyajit Ray on the Indian subcontinent to Martin Scorsese in New York City. We’ll take a look at his narrative and aesthetic “rules of the game,” exploring why The Rules of the Game became a foundational piece of cinematic art for filmmakers across the globe.

About the Instructor

Audrey J. Golden is Assistant Professor of English at Simmons University, where she teaches courses in global literature and postcolonial cinema. Her love of film dates to her time as head projectionist of the Wesleyan University cinema, where she also earned a B.A. in film studies. She earned a J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law and a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. As a lawyer and literature scholar, her research focuses on the connections between international human rights law and postcolonial fiction. She regularly teaches and writes on literature and film from the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

About Coolidge Education Seminars

Want to learn more about some of your favorite classic films? Before select Big Screen Classics events register for the Coolidge Education seminar, which includes a 30 minute lecture before the film from an expert and a reserved seat at the screening of the film.