Nora Gregor's measured speech and reserve make her Christine in The Rules of the Game an affecting outsider. We recommend the performance with a reservation: the same restraint sometimes leaves her too detached from the intrigue.
Fi1m perspective
Nora Gregor's Christine moves at a different pace from the people around her in The Rules of the Game (1939). Her measured delivery and non-native French accent suit a woman slightly apart from the French society she inhabits. We value that reserve, although it sometimes makes her harder to follow in Jean Renoir's busy comedy of romantic intrigue.
She had already played a princess, Lucia Zamikoff, in Dreyer's Michael (1924), an early leading role from her silent-film work. The title part in Feyder's Olympia (1930) marked her transition to sound; her work in that period also included Hollywood foreign-language versions. Aristocratic women were a recurring assignment, so Christine's social standing was familiar territory. What makes the later role interesting is the way Gregor's speech sets her apart within that class.
Marcel Dalio's Robert is the helpful comparison: his ease makes it clear why people would welcome his company despite his failings. Gregor gives Christine a more direct expression of feeling, which does not necessarily make her any easier to read. We found her separateness touching because her measured speech leaves her sounding less comfortable than the people around her. Renoir, who also plays Octave, adds warmth without excusing the trouble his character causes. He gives Gregor room to seem hurt or foolish without treating Christine as someone we can safely dismiss.
There is a limit to how much that context can explain away. During the busy opening, her restraint can make Christine seem insufficiently involved in the intrigue, precisely when we need to understand how everyone fits together. Renoir's film earns our strong recommendation, but its generosity towards its characters should not oblige us to find every performance choice successful. We can be moved by Gregor and still wish she made Christine's involvement clearer. Watch The Rules of the Game for the company, and allow Christine a little longer to introduce herself.
Biography
Nora Gregor (born Eleonora Hermina Gregor, 3 February 1901 – 20 January 1949) was an Austrian stage and film actress. She was born in Görz, then part of Austria-Hungary and now Gorizia, Italy, to Austrian-Jewish parents.
She began her career in operetta in Graz and Vienna, later appearing at the Reinhardt-Bühnen in Berlin and the Burgtheater in Vienna. Her film roles included Princess Lucia Zamikoff in the silent Michael (1924) and her best-known part as Christine de la Chesnaye in Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game (1939).
In 1937 she married the Austrian politician Prince Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg. Following the Anschluss, the couple emigrated; Gregor continued working in theatre and film in exile, including a final role in the 1945 Chilean film La fruta mordida. She died in Viña del Mar, Chile.
