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Jacques Rivette

One of the great directors to emerge during the French New Wave, Jacques Rivette's films have remained largely unseen by American audiences. One of the quintent of famed "Cahiers du Cinéma" critics-turned-filmmakers (which also include Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Eric Rohmer and Claude Chabrol), Rivette has focused on women-not just on female protagonists, but on the lives of women removed from men-At the same time exploring themes of theatricality, performance, the cinematic process, illusion and reality. his playful, cerebral and sometimes extended ruminations have always pushed the boundaries of conventional art house cinema and thus, despite critical accolades, eluded the wider commercial distribution of his contemporaries.

Perhaps best known in the U.S. for his 'Alice in Wonderland' styled fable CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING (1974), in which a magic sweet takes two protagonists (Dominique Labourier and Juliet Berto) to the heart of a strange drama, Rivette, now 78, has said "I like film to be an adventure for those who make it and for those who see it." In works that range from THE NUN (1965), which chronicles the life of Suzanne Simonin (Anna Karina), a 17th century woman forced by her parents to enter a convent; JOAN THE MAID (1994) in which Sandrine Bonnaire gives an achingly complex performance as Joan of Arc, to SECRET DEFENSE (1998), a contemporary revenge murder-thriller also starring Sandrine Bonnaire, to his Cannes prize winning LA BELLE NOISEUSE (1991), an incisive exploration of the artistic process adapted from Honoré de Balzac's novella "The Unknown Masterpiece," Rivette has shown a remarkable ability across the decades to reinvent himself, even as his films remain unmistakably his own.

This retrospective was organized and made possible with the assistance of David Schwartz and Livia Bloom of the Museum of the Moving Image, New York; the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, New York; the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Paris and the National Film Theatre, London.

Fri, Mar 9, 2007 at 7 PM	THE NUN DIRECTOR: JACQUES RIVETTE FRANCE An austere, powerful adaptation of Denis Diderot's 18th-century novel, THE NUN was banned by French censors for two years after its release because of its attacks on clerics and the Church. Fellow New Wave director Godard's then-wife and muse Anna Karina stars as a headstrong young woman forced into a repressive convent. Rivette developed the project as a stage play with writer Jean Gruault before mounting this screen version, which is distinguished by rigorous long takes, subtly expressive tableaux and hints of perverse sexuality. ( 130 min ) ^ Top
Sat, Mar 10, 2007 at 6 PM	L'AMOUR FOU DIRECTOR: JACQUES RIVETTE FRANCE This pivotal masterpiece was Rivette's first film to use an extended running time, with scenes written and developed with actors' (Bulle Ogier, Jean-Pierre Kalfon, André S. Labarthe) participation, and a blurring between art and reality as key elements. A study of disintegrating personal relationships, it focuses on a theater group preparing to stage Jean Racine's "Andromaque" while being filmed by a television crew. During the rehearsal, the play's director replaces his wife in the lead with his former mistress. "You emerge from it changed . . .It's a life experience as much as a film experience."-Jonathan Rosenbaum, CHICAGO READER. ( 255 min ) Shown with intermission. ^ Top
Sun, Mar 11, 2007 at 6 PM	CÉLINE AND JULIE GO BOATING DIRECTOR: JACQUES RIVETTE FRANCE Rivette playfully experiments with narrative structure in this comic examination of storytelling and the permeable wall separating life from fiction. Juliet Berto and Dominique Labourier star as Céline and Julie, free-spirited Parisian friends who stumble upon a mysterious mansion where a solemn Victorian melodrama-or a '40s Hollywood women's picture-plays out in a seemingly perpetual loop. Rivette's whimsical, exuberant film celebrates the power of imagination and the magic of cinema, fashioning what film critic David Thomson called at "the most radical and delightful narrative film since CITIZEN KANE." ( 193 min ) ^ Top
Tue, Mar 13, 2007 at 7 PM	DUELLE DIRECTOR: JACQUES RIVETTE FRANCE Following CÉLINE AND JULIE, Rivette wanted to make a quartet of films, to be called "Daughters of Fire," using elements of myth and magic. The four films would be shot one after the other and edited all at the same time. Part Two of this project, but shot first for practical reasons, DUELLE stars Juliet Berto and Bulle Ogier as supernatural spirits- goddesses of the sun and moon-who struggle for control over a magic diamond that permits them to remain on earth longer than the usual 40 days. Once again adroitly exploring the border between reality and fantasy, Rivette infuses mythical elements into naturalistic settings with singular pictorial beauty. ( 120 min ) ^ Top
Wed, Mar 14, 2007 at 7 PM	MERRY-GO-ROUND DIRECTOR: JACQUES RIVETTE FRANCE In this elaborate mystery, Warhol star Joe Dallesandro (TRASH) is a New Yorker summoned to Paris by a mysterious letter to search for a missing woman (Maria Schneider). When they discover it was sent by her older sister, and that she has possibly been kidnapped, their ensuing search uncovers sinister forces bent on destruction. One of Rivette's least-seen films, MERRY-GO-ROUND reflects the chaos of its production. "I like film to be an adventure," said Rivette, "for those who make it and for those who see it." ( 157 min ) This film is half in English and half in French. We were unable to secure a subtitled print so the French portions of the film will be unsubtitled. ^ Top
Thu, Mar 15, 2007 at 7 PM	LOVE ON THE GROUND DIRECTOR: JACQUES RIVETTE FRANCE Two stage actresses, Charlotte (Geraldine Chaplin) and Emily (Jane Birkin), are compelled by hunger and curiosity to the château of playwright, Clément (Jean-Pierre Kalfon), to rehearse his un-produced play. The women are set to be dramatize a fictional scenario involving a love triangle; however, it becomes the real-life love triangle it always was as rehearsal and performance merge in rounds of clairvoyance and premonition, self-reflection and ghoulish romance. Rivette playfully combines a plethora of verbal and visual puns with fluidly choreographed, elegant long takes as he continues his exploration of the intersection of fact and fiction. ( 120 min ) ^ Top
Sat, Mar 17, 2007 at 7 PM	LA BELLE NOISEUSE DIRECTOR: JACQUES RIVETTE FRANCE Winner of the Grand Prize at Cannes, LA BELLE NOISEUSE is an incisive exploration of the artistic process adapted from Honoré de Balzac's novella "The Unknown Masterpiece." A reclusive, once-great painter (Michel Piccoli) lives a quiet life in Provence with his wife (Jane Birkin), having never completed his would-be masterpiece, "La Belle Noiseuse." When he is visited by a young artist and his girlfriend (Emmanuelle Béart), he gradually accepts the young woman as his new muse and attempts to finish the long delayed project, disrupting the already tenuous relationships which exist between the artists and their respective lovers. ( 238 min ) Shown with intermission. ^ Top
Sun, Mar 18, 2007 at 7 PM	WUTHERING HEIGHTS DIRECTOR: JACQUES RIVETTE FRANCE In his adaptation of Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights," Rivette focuses on the opening chapters of the novel, moving the story to the 1930's rural Cévennes region in the south of France. Making creative use of its bleak, rocky landscape to dramatize the passionate love affair between a gypsy and a French country girl, Rivette explores the tenuous boundaries between class, reality and dream, and viewer and viewed. As in the original, the two protagonists are one with their surroundings until Catherine is seduced by civilization, and awakens as a wife in a pastel dream of affluence, triggering the nightmare that is Roch's revenge. Starring Fabienne Babe, Lucas Belvaux and Sandra Montaigu. ( 130 min ) ^ Top
Tue, Mar 20, 2007 at 7 PM	THE GANG OF FOUR DIRECTOR: JACQUES RIVETTE FRANCE Once again exploring the complex world of the theater, Rivette examines the intertwined relationships of four actresses studying with a renowned director (Bulle Ogier). While rehearsing for a production of Pierre Marivaux's "La Double Inconstance," they are visited by a mysterious stranger (Laurence Côte) who develops an intimate relationship with each of the women while concealing his motives. As in Rivette's earlier films about the stage, the boundaries between the "real lives" of his characters and the play-within-the-film are effortlessly blurred, furthering the director's career-long contemplation of performance in everyday life. ( 140 min ) ^ Top
Wed, Mar 21, 2007 at 7 PM	UP/DOWN/FRAGILE DIRECTOR: JACQUES RIVETTE FRANCE Rivette's ode to the mysteries and romance of summer in Paris was inspired by Rivette's love for the low-budget MGM musicals of the 1950s. Collaborating with his ensemble cast on both the screenplay and the songs, the film conjures a sense of amateur enthusiasm and vérité poetry to the most stylized and artificial of film genres. The casually interrelated plot-turns revolve around three young women-Nathalie Richard, Marianne Denicourt and Laurence Côte-all variously on the verge of reinvention. Recalling CÉLINE AND JULIE's masterful play of light and shadow, reality and fantasy, UP/DOWN/FRAGILE is one of the best-loved and most-praised of Rivette's recent films. ( 170 min ) ^ Top
Fri, Mar 23, 2007 at 7 PM	SECRET DEFENSE DIRECTOR: JACQUES RIVETTE FRANCE Hitchcock meets the Electra myth in one of Rivette's most challenging and gratifying thrillers. Convinced that his wealthy father's death was no accident, Paul comes to his sister, Sylvie, a serious-minded biologist, with his plan for revenge on his father's business partner. Recognizing her brother's emotional instability but convinced by his evidence, Sylvie takes it upon herself to carry out his murderous plot, only to walk into a dense labyrinth of deception, greed and desire. Images of travel and motion compel Sylvie forward even as she herself becomes increasingly trapped within a mesh of long-buried secrets, hidden identities and violent motives. ( 170 min ) ^ Top
Sat, Mar 24, 2007 at 6 PM Sun, Mar 25, 2007 at 3 PM	JOAN THE MAID DIRECTOR: JACQUES RIVETTE FRANCE Based on the familiar story of Joan of Arc, Rivette's epic stars Sandrine Bonnaire in an unsentimental portrait that focuses not so much on historical content but upon portraying the private reality of her heroic young life. Divided into two parts, the first chronicles the initial spiritual calling which drove her, at age 15, to lead battles in Domremy and Orleans. The second part chronicles Joan's imprisonment by the British and her public execution, omitting the famed trial that forms the core of celebrated versions of her story by Carl Theodor Dreyer and Robert Bresson. ( 237 min ) Shown with intermission. ^ Top
Thu, Mar 29, 2007 at 7 PM	VA SAVIOR DIRECTOR: JACQUES RIVETTE FRANCE In his most commercially successful, and lightest, film, a Pirandello theater production and Paris form the backdrop for six characters falling in and out of love. Jeanne Balibar stars as Camille, the lead actress of the production who must confront her newly married ex-boyfriend. Her current lover Ugo (Sergio Castellitto) is the director of the play and is unaware of her conflict. He becomes entangled with a young student (Marianne Basler) with hidden ties to both Camille and Ugo. "Serene and witty, it's a cerebral farce in which doors are forever opening and closing, sometimes on another world." -J. Hoberman, THE VILLAGE VOICE. ( 154 min ) ^ Top
Fri, Mar 30, 2007 at 7 PM Sat, Mar 31, 2007 at 7 PM	THE STORY OF MARIE AND JULIEN DIRECTOR: JACQUES RIVETTE FRANCE In this supernatural meditation on love and loss, a man (Jerzy Radziwilowicz) who spends his quiet life fixing old clocks attempts to rekindle his relationship with a beautiful woman (Emmanuelle Béart) who may be a ghost. "A fantasy film for grown-ups and incurable romantics . . .[it takes] its cues from Cocteau's poetic fantasies and Poe's uneasy tremors, the not-so-straightforward narrative is alternately told from the point of view of the solid Julien and the ethereal Marie, his obscure object of desire. Their romantic beginnings give way to a strange mysteriousness, as if certain things have been told before . . .an ephemeral tale suggesting all affairs are haunted by earlier loves."-PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE. ( 152 min ) ^ Top