REVIEW: The Rules Of The Game

Broadcast: 15th February, 1965

Character: Guido Venanzi

The Story

The plot involves an unusual and cynical love triangle that is strictly governed by social conventions.

Leone Gala (Anthony Quayle) is a detached and highly intellectual individual who has distanced himself from his volatile wife, Silia (Gwen Watford). Overwhelmed by a sense of entrapment and profoundly annoyed by her husband’s complete apathy, so seeks to shatter his icy demeanor and takes Guido Venanzi (Peter Wyngarde) as her lover.

Stila sees her chance to when, one evening, a band of drunken soldiers inadvertently burst into her apartment, believing it to be a brothel. Their ringleader is a well-known swordsman in the area. She perceives a chance to exploit “the rules of the game” – the stringent codes of bourgeois honour – to compel her husband into a lethal duel, with the hope that he will be slain. Leone calmly agrees to extend the challenge, but applies the same rules as Stila with devises a brilliant and devastating counter-strategy by choosing Guido has his Second.

Guido attempts to dissuade Leone from engaging in the perilous duel, but Leone remains resolute. Frustrated and constrained by the rigid formalities of the event, Guido escalates the duel’s conditions to demonstrate his own honour, inadvertently sealing his own fate.

As the duel commences, Leone strategically steps aside, adhering to the technicalities and “rules of the game” that he has cleverly manipulated. Since Guido established the stringent terms and is serving as the substitute, he is compelled to take Leone’s place on the field, resulting in his death.

Leone is completely exonerated under the established laws of society and honour, having skillfully distanced himself while employing those same rules to eliminate his adversary.

In Retrospect

“The Rules of the Game” aligns closely with the modern European tradition of incisive reflections on the complexities of gender relations. It is also a quintessential Pirandello piece, illustrating characters ensnared in the ambiguous space between reality and appearance.

When Leone Gala remarks to Guido, who may or may not be the lover of his wife Silia (though he is certainly a very attentive visitor), “You only see her the way she seems,” this observation applies to all the characters. Guido, who presents himself as a man of action, remains passive when a group of drunken soldiers intrudes and assaults Silia. Leone, who is deeply engrossed in philosophical contemplation, ultimately reveals himself to be the most cunning and pragmatic survivor of the group. Silia, despite her dramatic temperament, sexual magnetism, and influence over men, admits to her dissatisfaction with her identity as a woman – except when it involves inflicting pain on men.

Silia’s discontent partly stems from her confinement within the concept of ‘Womanliness,’ where she embodies the roles of temptress, ghost, wife, mistress, spoiled child, and matriarch – each shaped by male perceptions, akin to the scrutinizing gaze of a libertine. She represents a series of locked doors – even to herself—similar to many of Pirandello’s other characters, for whom the idea of identity is both profound and elusive.

The narrative is set in the 1930s, a period marked by the rise of fascism in Italy, and the characters’ dialectical confusions further reflect a social and political framework that is faltering and losing its rationale for existence.

Leone, who has the majority of the definitive lines, frequently emphasizes the significance of adhering to one’s own “concept,” asserting that his is one of ethereal renunciation. (At one point, he tells Silia, “To save you, I had to renounce those emotions of love and hate. I had to detach myself.”) However, his renunciation of “the judgments and entanglements of a ridiculous world” is paradoxically intertwined with his uncritical acceptance of it, as he proclaims to others, “I agree to everything.”

Leone appears to have a response for every inquiry, and those around him seem eager to contemplate his insights. While “Rules of the Game” may not serve as a purely theatrical exploration of human mystery like “Six Characters in Search of an Author,” it comfortably resides within the Continental tradition, where stimulating dialogue can often substitute for action.

Pirandello’s unexpected conclusion, in which Leone’s self-interest shifts from enlightened to malevolent, serves as a stark warning regarding the destruction that self-centered individuals can inflict without experiencing any repercussions themselves.