The Rules of the Game

On the eve of WWII, le Marquis de la Cheyniest, Robert, and his Viennese wife, Christine, Parisians of upper crust society, are hosting a week long gathering at their French country estate, La Coliniere. Games (at various levels of the term) of the sexual and/or romantic variety ensue with the collection at the estate, who include the following. Famed aviator Andre Jurieux, who has had a liaison with Christine, publicly dedicates all his professional achievements to her, they which mean nothing to him without her. Cherubic Octave, who introduced Christine and Andre to each other, is also openly in love with her, but defers his feelings in light of Andre's obsession with her. Christine's niece Jackie, a post-graduate student in pre-Columbian art, also has feelings for Andre, but knows she would always be second best to her aunt in his eyes. Genevieve de Marras has been invited to mark the end of her affair with Robert. Robert and Christine are devoted to each other in their own way, which incorporates their individual (misguided) views of love and propriety. Accompanying Christine from Paris is her devoted personal maid, married Lisette, who, while in Paris, cavorts with a variety of men in the absence of her husband. This week however may be difficult for her in being reunited with her jealous husband, Edouard Schumacher, the gameskeeper at La Coliniere, and not keeping to that cavorting. The man who has his eyes on her and whose pursuit she does not dissuade is Marceau, a neighboring poacher who Robert has hired as a domestic, both to stop his poaching while the guests go hunting on the grounds, and to entertain his fascination to have a job that includes a uniform.