Essays and Reviews

Art Variables and Life Variables in La Belle noiseuse

Related Links

Dennis Lim's Best of 2006

Additional Resources

Jacques-Rivette.com
HOME >PROGRAMMES > JACQUES RIVETTE: BABEL AND THE VOID
 
 
JACQUES RIVETTE: BABEL AND THE VOID FILM SELECTION
"At once the most cerebral and playful of filmmakers, delighting equally in puzzles and ontology, magic and metaphysics, conspiracy theories and the knottiest conundrums of modernism." - Nathan Lee, The Village Voice

For better and for worse, and principally the latter, Jacques Rivette has been singled out as the former Cahiers du Cinéma film critic who makes the least commercial films, as well as the longest ones. But for the record, the films of the always-neglected Luc Moullet [screened in Cinematheque Ontario's Spring 2006 season - ed.] are generally less commercial than those of Rivette. And even what we mean when we say “longest films” is open to some debate. (After all, the over twelve-hour OUT 1: NOLI ME TANGERE was conceived as a TV serial, and Jean-Luc Godard's own first TV series, made a few years later, was just as long.)

The problem with such caricatures is they generally function as excuses for why some spectators won't deal with Rivette's films rather than as viable descriptions of what they offer. Yes, his features tend to be long and they work with duration. Furthermore, when two versions have been made of some of them - unauthorized in the case of L'AMOUR FOU, authorized in the cases of L'AMOUR PAR TERRE and LA BELLE NOISEUSE/DIVERTIMENTO - the longer version is almost always superior. (The only arguable exception to this rule is the two versions of OUT 1, both authorized, which are too distinct as well as too complementary in conception to be profitably regarded as competitive.)

Let me propose a few other traits that make Rivette stand out among his former critical colleagues. According to François Truffaut, he was the one who was most determined to become a filmmaker. He's also the one most interested in actors - even if this only started to become apparent with his second feature, when he could afford to hire professionals. I'd also argue that, along with Godard, he is the only one who has continued to be a critic as well as something of a theorist while functioning as a filmmaker - someone whose memory of other films
1234
L' AMOUR FOU
L' AMOUR PAR TERRE
LA BANDE DES QUATRE
LA BELLE NOISEUSE
CÉLINE ET JULIE VONT EN BATEAU
LE COUP DU BERGER
DIVERTIMENTO
DUELLE
HAUT/BAS/FRAGILE
HISTOIRE DE MARIE ET JULIEN
HURLEVENT
JACQUES RIVETTE LE VEILLEUR
JEAN RENOIR, LE PATRON
JEANNE LA PUCELLE
JEANNE LA PUCELLE PART I: LES BATAILLES
JEANNE LA PUCELLE PART II: LES PRISONS
MERRY-GO-ROUND
NISHI GINZA STATION
NOROÎT
OUT 1: NOLI ME TANGERE
OUT 1: NOLI ME TANGERE (EPISODES 1 - 4)
OUT 1: NOLI ME TANGERE (EPISODES 5 - 8)
OUT 1: SPECTRE
PARIS NOUS APPARTIENT
LE PONT DU NORD
LA RELIGIEUSE
SECRET DÉFENSE
VA SAVOIR
 
             
 
 
 
GENERAL POLICIES  |  CONTACT  |  HOW TO CO  |  TIFF ALERTS  |  NEWS RELEASES
© 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. All rights reserved.Box Office: 416-968-FILM