The Rule of the Game opens with a hilarious burial scene. Two men are arguing over the disposal of someone whom they have ostensibly murdered. 'How heavy can a body be?' 'Who did all the digging?' 'Why didn't you bring more water?' But it quickly stalls under its own weight.

Part of the problem reviewing a film with subtitles for a language you don't understand is that your eye is unavoidably drawn to the cinematography and the drama.

The film should be bulging with character conflicts that entice and excite the imagination. The caste of characters includes a handyman assassin, thugs, a swindler, a gangster, and a philandering housewife and her boy toy. And perhaps that is the problem. With so many character conflicts competing with one another, none really dominates the screen.

The Rule of the Game tries to surprise and show us that things are not always what they seem. It centres around numerous domestic scenes of oddly connected characters who wait. They are waiting for an opportunity for murder and kidnapping. But for all the planning and premeditation, coincidences, fate, greed, and lust really screw things up.

This film doesn't seem to go anywhere, except to arrive back at the opening scene.