Banned in 1939 by a pre-War French government, for being ‘demoralising’, Jean Renoir’s transparently allegorical film is set in a decadent chateau during a hunting weekend when pointed badinage, back-stabbing and partner-swapping suddenly erupt in an act of murder. Watch out for the ominous ‘shooting party’ scene, with heavily armed toffs turning a rabbit-hunt into a bloody massacre/metaphor.
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