Jacques Rivette

[tavernier]

(And the less Emmanuelle Beart the better.)

Uh...why?

She's totally devoid of interest as an actress, outside of her films with Rivette, and then only because every actor is interesting in a Rivette film. He used her perfectly in La Belle noiseuse, but I would have preferred that Marie and Julien had been made with Sandrine Bonnaire, who I believe was initially cast, but had to drop out.

I'd take Beart over Bonnaire nearly every time (except in Jeanne la pucelle, of course).

[Michael Kerpan]

I'd take Beart over Bonnaire nearly every time (except in Jeanne la pucelle, of course).

Any reason why he have to just pick one?

I'd rather not.

;~}

[tavernier]

I'd take Beart over Bonnaire nearly every time (except in Jeanne la pucelle, of course).

Any reason why he have to just pick one?

I'd rather not.

;~}

Ask him, he made the initial comparison.

[David Ehrenstein]

Beart and Bonnaire are completely different from one another. I see no point of comparasion at all. Rivette would never have cast Beart in Secret Defense, likewise Bonnaire in La Belle Noiseuse.

Beart is also teriffic in Ruiz's Time Regained.

And did I mention that her mother starred in Les Carabiniers ?

[Michael Kerpan]

Beart is also teriffic in Ruiz's Time Regained.

I ordered two Ruiz films to "fill out" my FNAC order for Duelle/Noroit. As it turns out. the Ruiz films will be coming -- and the Rivette ones will not. I sure hope I'll like Ce jour la and Klimt (as I am royally ticked over FNAC's antics). I wish Alapage had had this Rivette DVD in stock.

[fred]

Sorry, Fred, I have to disagree on this, although I too would not have had her in "Hurlevent".

Don't be sorry--I appreciate your response. I think you're completely correct about why she would have been inappropriate for Hurlevent. For what it's worth, my preference for Bonnaire in Marie and Julien has more to do with wanting to see Rivette working with her again rather than any perceived problem with Béart's performance. As I've said, I think she's interesting in Rivette's films.

But I'm not going to watch an otherwise dull film on the strength (or otherwise) of her performance, where I might be more inclined to do so with other actors (though they're very few and far between). I think that one of the things that makes an actor interesting is the roles they take on. Apart from a few obvious highlights, I don't think Béart has a very distinguished record in this regard. Sure, she "needs" to work, so it's not fair to hold any particular film against her, but the overall pattern doesn't interest me, either the films or the types of roles. And Ozon and Téchiné don't constitute any kind of defense as far as I'm concerned.

Arielle Dombasle has been in at least 4 Ruiz films; this doesn't make her a good or interesting actress. (I fully expect David Ehrenstein to disagree with me here.)

[fred]

I ordered two Ruiz films to "fill out" my FNAC order for Duelle/Noroit. As it turns out. the Ruiz films will be coming -- and the Rivette ones will not. I sure hope I'll like Ce jour la and Klimt (as I am royally ticked over FNAC's antics). I wish Alapage had had this Rivette DVD in stock.

Ce jour-là is one of my absolute favorite Ruiz films. It's a total riot and Elsa Zylberstein (now there's an actress) is brilliant in it. And it's a knockout visually.

Klimt is, sadly, my least favorite Ruiz film so far. Not totally devoid of interest, but bloated and somewhat ill-conceived. But there are at least two and possibly three different cuts of this, so maybe the version released on dvd is better than what I saw.

To keep this (sort-of) on topic, does anyone know of a better source for the Rivette dvds? They seem to be quite poorly distributed.

[Michael Kerpan]

To keep this (sort-of) on topic, does anyone know of a better source for the Rivette dvds? They seem to be quite poorly distributed.

FNAC was the only online retailer I could find who ships internationally. For some reason, hardly anyone currently seems to handle the Films de ma vie releases.

[David Ehrenstein]

Arielle Dombasle has been in at least 4 Ruiz films; this doesn't make her a good or interesting actress. (I fully expect David Ehrenstein to disagree with me here.)

She's not a good or interesting actress. She's a Movie Star. Love her in Rohmer.

And I miss her old nose.

[fred]

For some reason, hardly anyone currently seems to handle the Films de ma vie releases.

Which apparently include La Religieuse

Who knew?

[fred]

She's not a good or interesting actress.

I'm glad we agree. (About the nose as well, though I wouldn't say that I miss it; I was never attached to it in the first place.)

[Barmy]

fnac seems to be offering Duelle/Noroit with 24hr availability--I'm not sure what the problem is. I bought it from them maybe three weeks ago.

If that doesn't work you can get it from some amazon.fr marketplace sellers, although it is pricey.

I hope people will stop talking about Dombasle. Soon.

I continue to believe that one of the reasons Hurlevent is an unloved flop is that the acting sucks. And if you read the interview MoMMY handed out, there is clearly an undercurrent that this is the case. As I said before, Babe has zero presence. And Belveaux/Roch is just a mopey, boring loser. I know love is blind, but is it deaf and dumb as well?

[Ted Todorov]

Which apparently include La Religieuse

Who knew?

FNAC says it is "unavailable for the moment" -- does that mean it is not OOP? I didn't spot it at the brick & mortar FNAC in May.
Is the transfer any good -- the print at MoMI was all red -- the colors were in awful shape. The film itself is thoroughly gripping.

When did Dombasle lose her sexy old nose? As to whether she is a good actress or not, I can't imagine anyone more perfect for her parts in Le beau marriage and Pauline a la plage.

Back to Rivette -- it is criminal that a good DVD of Jeanne la Pucelle doesn't exist. Has Criterion managed to extract rights for anything from the film hating butchers at Facets?

[Michael Kerpan]

Back to Rivette -- it is criminal that a good DVD of Jeanne la Pucelle doesn't exist. Has Criterion managed to extract rights for anything from the film hating butchers at Facets?

What is more surprising is that there is still no French DVD release.

[fred]

FNAC says it is "unavailable for the moment" -- does that mean it is not OOP? I didn't spot it at the brick & mortar FNAC in May.
Is the transfer any good -- the print at MoMI was all red -- the colors were in awful shape. The film itself is thoroughly gripping.

I have no idea about the transfer, as i just discovered this myself. But I wouldn't think that the print that AMMI (hey it's what's on the sign out front) assaulted our eyeballs with would have anything to do with it. I don't think even Facets would have the nerve to make a transfer of a print with color that badly faded. For what it's worth, a little birdy told me that there's a perfectly presentable print of the film with English subs in Canada that could have been screened instead of that monstrosity from the BFI.

[Michael Kerpan]

The French DVD of "Religieuse" is quite lovely (except for having no subtitles).

[Ted Todorov]

I just got back from day one of the Out 1 (12.5 hour version) screening. Both the print and film itself exceeded my wildest expectations. The print is great -- with deep, rich, magnificent colors. Aside from the usual scratches around the reel changes and the noisy optical soundtrack, it is ready for a DVD transfer. There is no comparisson to the ungodly washed out mess that the Anthology Film Archives screened earlier this year (Out 1: Spectre).

The film itself is much better than the trimmed Spectre version. Scenes that were tedious in Spectre are far more engaging now, as they make much more sense, especially the theatrical exercises. I was very tired today, and didn't think I would make it through the whole thing, but once I started watching it, wild horses couldn't drag me away.

Out 1 is a film that truly deserves a great DVD. Indeed, considering it's episodic, made for TV origin it is perfectly suited for the medium. Criterion, are you listening?

[Barmy]

Random thoughts on Out 1:

1. The final 2-second shot is (in my opinion, today) the best ending ever. Simultaneously trivial and profound--what a way to end a 12.5 hour film.

2. I was surprised to find that there is very little narrative in the long version not already contained in "Spectre".

3. As with "Spectre", I find Berto's character to be weak and Leaud's to be overly dominant. This is a problematic imbalance. Every time Leaud appears on screen you can almost hear the audience sigh in relief--"yay something interesting--ACTING--is going to happen!" Without Leaud, I think this film would be difficult to watch, and to me that is antithetical to Rivette's intent.

4. Rivette leaves every other French director in the dust. None of the others had the guts or balls to make an Out 1, or anything anywhere near as transgressive.

[orlik]

Random thoughts on Out 1:
Rivette leaves every other French director in the dust. None of the others had the guts or balls to make an Out 1, or anything anywhere near as transgressive.

Couldn't agree more. The fact that the film is so little-seen and little-known, while understandable, is a kind of cultural crime. What better way to make for this than for someone to bring out a good 6 DVD set including both versions of the film and some decent extras? Can't see it happening though.

Personally I thought Berto was marvellous in the film - she has one of the best scenes in the whole film, where she's wearing that wig as a 'disguise' and trying to convince Francoise Fabian's character that she needs to buy back her 'secret' letter. Yet Leaud is the standout - one of his best performances, if not for me his best. One of my greatest memories of the film is of him wandering the streets reciting 'The Hunting of the Snark' as a gang of children (real bystanders, not extras) follow him. Michel Lonsdale is also brilliant though.

Having read Thomas Pynchon's novels 'V' and 'The Crying of Lot 49' recently, it occurs to me these are the closest literary parallel to 'Out 1'. Jonathan Rosenbaum has made this comparison before between Pynchon and Rivette, arguing how it's amazing that both artists created a similar fictional universe with similar concerns without any real knowledge of each other's work. He makes the case mainly in relation to 'Gravity's Rainbow', which I've not yet developed the stamina to start. I think that anyone considering whether or not to see 'Out 1' should read Pynchon first - if you find his novels are a lot of pretentious tosh that lead nowhere, you probably won't like Rivette's film.

[Ted Todorov]

Couldn't agree more. The fact that the film is so little-seen and little-known, while understandable, is a kind of cultural crime. What better way to make for this than for someone to bring out a good 6 DVD set including both versions of the film and some decent extras? Can't see it happening though.

I'd be perfectly happy with a DVD without the inclusion of Spectre. Having seen both this year, I don't think Spectre adds anything unique. Some interviews with Rivette, cast and crew would be great.

And I don't see why it shouldn't happen -- the rights are surely available and cheap. The source material is in watchable shape -- I don't think the target audience is expecting a pristine transfer.

We just need to convince Criterion to do it.

[Barmy]

Rosenbaum claims that Spectre is a complete re-imagining of the Out 1 material, but I disagree. As I indicated above, large chunks of the narrative portions of Out 1 are contained in Spectre, more or less in the same order (I don't remember much of the Renaud character being in Spectre, however).

So I think if Out 1 were available, you wouldn't really need Spectre. However, given that a new print of Spectre has recently been struck, it might be more suitable for DVD. The Out 1 print was fine, although the sound in particular needs some work.

I think Berto was fine in spots, and would have liked to see more of her and Renaud.

[orlik]

I've still not seen 'Spectre', so am curious about how different it is. From what I've heard most of the theatre rehearsals/freak outs are excised - to be honest, I can't imagine the film without them, they're so crucial to its meaning. Does 'Spectre' retain that long hunt for Renaud around Paris (which I remember as one of the most bizarre and fascinating sequences, even though it 'makes sense' in narrative terms)?

[fred]

Spectre is formally different, and many things have different inflections and the relations among the elements is somewhat different, but I think Barmy is basically right. I was surprised by how closely Spectre maps to Out 1, given Rosenbaum's characterization. But the hunt for Renaud is one of the few things which is entirely absent. If I recall correctly all that remains is the unpopulated shots of the intersection with the 'Hospice de Bicetre' (or whatever it said) sign.

[justeleblanc]

Out 1 is coming back to MotMI on March 3 & 4 of 2007. I wasn't able to make it to the December screenings, but I will be attending the March one. Should be worth the trip North.

[chaddoli]

Everyone who can possibly go to this should.

It is worth it.