#1058
Post
by ianthemovie » Tue Feb 02, 2016 11:51 pm
Saw Out 1 at the Harvard Film Archive this past weekend in two large chunks (2:30 pm-11:00 pm Saturday, 2:30-10:15 Sunday). I can really only echo the comments that others here have made: it's an extraordinary, exhausting, baffling experience. I feel like I'm still very much swimming in the film two days later. It does have its dull moments; I agree that many of the improv rehearsal scenes go on far too long. But there is a lot to love and enjoy here, and a lot of it has a delayed effect. I'm finding that the power of certain moments (such as that mind-bending conversation between Leaud and Lafont) is only now hitting me. I still prefer Celine and Julie, but it's impossible to deny that this is a major work on every level. As it progresses, it feels like it keeps expanding endlessly to include new characters, new locations, and new possibilities for interpretation. Every time two previously "unrelated" characters crossed paths or it was revealed that they knew each other, I felt myself wanting to gasp. The world of this film feels almost overwhelming in its vastness and instability. At the same time, I doubt whether I will ever have the stamina to get through it again--a feeling I also had after I finished reading Infinite Jest.
I think this may be my favorite Leaud performance. I found myself compulsively grinning at his recitation of "The Hunting of the Snark" ("le s-NAR-que!") as well as during his stoned giggling with Bulle Ogier. Michael Lonsdale is also excellent, playing a character who I found endlessly mutable and difficult to read. I found the combination of his unconventional looks and his quietly powerful sexuality--which he exacts over no less than three of the film's female characters--to be fascinating. I'm left wondering whether he was actually serious about his theater experiments or whether he's simply been using them as a way to score with as many hippie chicks as possible.
It's amazing to read back to the beginning of this thread, when Out 1 was considered to be more or less a lost film and the possibility of seeing it in its complete form seemed all but impossible. It's now available on Blu-ray throughout Europe and North America and many of us have had (or will have) the opportunity to see it screened theatrically. We're lucky, folks.