Rules of the Game14 June 2010The movie Rules of the Game is a very in-depth and unique piece of art that thematically portrays characters playing with the notion of moral codes. What is truly unique about the film is how it literally focuses on appearances, while at the same time showing what reality is really like. The characters run around the mansions, in and out of doors, through the woods playing music lovers pushing the limits of morality and the rules of society without changing anything; they are stuck and defined by their roles After reading Jean-Paul Sartre's example of “bad faith” it becomes obvious that many characters are carrying out 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 pursues another man's wife but has no intention of actually taking her. There is one character in particular, Christine, who represents bad faith in an undeniably self-deceptive way. Christine, like the young woman on the date, floats through the film without ever denying or acknowledging the advances of her multiple "loves." In the opening scene the pilot announces his love for her on the air and halfway through his confession she turns off the radio. She knows he's in love with her, but she laughs it off as if it were someone else's reality. In this moment she made a conscious choice to ignore his advances, after all they are still just words. The pilot is so distraught that he attempts to end his existence while Christine exists in this moment, flirting with her husband. Her old friend Octavo stops by to explicitly warn her about how her flirtatious actions provoke certain reactions. She laughs it off without admitting that she…half the paper…uses. Christine is one of them; she does not leave, she does not follow her desires but obediently submits to her husband's request. This is definitely self-deception because Christine is really denying who she is; instead, he is playing the role he believes is necessary to maintain order in his society. It's ironic that the movie is called Rules of the Game because the characters run around in chaos trying to change the rules, but in the end nothing changes. The servant never surprises the woman; the “other” woman does not convince the husband to leave his wife and the conductor, Octavo, leaves at the end of the show. The camera focuses tightly on each of the characters, personifying their defined roles and attempting to break free. They are held in a prison of delusions and immoral impulses, not accepting that humans have control over their existence.