Jacques Rivette, a director I see myself growing to love more and more
It's hard to put into words what this guy's films are to me, and even what they are period. He was obsessed with the theatre, and all his films are to do with performance, well most of them, often actually in a theatre.
His films are usually really long, and have a slow pace, not like Rohmer, a bit more outlandish than the King of the talk heavy picture, i'll post about Rohmer someday soon btw.
There's something groovy beneath the surface of his later work, something to do with the occult I think, but I never yet looked into it more.
For those who love beautiful women in their films, he's a good one, for this reason -- it isn't immature, but rather elevated film art.
I'll provide here some of what YouTube has for him, some of them will need to be seen directly on YouTube
Gang of Four
Directed by Jacques Rivette • 1989 • France
Starring Benoît Régent, Bulle Ogier, Fejria Deliba
Four women, a shadowy conspiracy, and a whole lot of acting exercises: we’re firmly in Jacques Rivette territory in one of the director’s most spellbinding explorations of the thin line between everyday life and something far stranger. A quartet of aspiring actresses live together while studying with a demanding coach (Bulle Ogier). As they rehearse Pierre Marivaux’s “La double inconstance,” offstage drama creeps into their lives in the form of a menacing mystery man (Benoît Régent) with a sinister story to tell.
Starring Benoît Régent, Bulle Ogier, Fejria Deliba
Four women, a shadowy conspiracy, and a whole lot of acting exercises: we’re firmly in Jacques Rivette territory in one of the director’s most spellbinding explorations of the thin line between everyday life and something far stranger. A quartet of aspiring actresses live together while studying with a demanding coach (Bulle Ogier). As they rehearse Pierre Marivaux’s “La double inconstance,” offstage drama creeps into their lives in the form of a menacing mystery man (Benoît Régent) with a sinister story to tell.
[media=https://youtu.be/BV4lqLVPtqM]
La Belle Noiseuse
Jacques Rivette’s abiding fascination with the interplay between life and art receives one of its most spellbinding treatments in this sensuous, hypnotic exploration of the creative process. Taking its inspiration from a Balzac story, LA BELLE NOISEUSE centers on the tension that arises between an aging painter (Michel Piccoli) and his young model (Emmanuelle Béart) as he obsessively attempts to capture a truth beyond physical reality. Winner of the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, this slow-burn epic is a mesmerizing exploration of the very limits of artistic creation.
[media=https://youtu.be/BYJh9FRVmlM]
L'amour fou
In many ways a breakthrough work for director Jacques Rivette (and a thematic precursor to his legendary OUT 1, released two years later), this epic portrait of a relationship in breakdown found the French New Wave’s most uncompromising auteur pushing the conventions of cinema to their limit to explore his trademark obsessions with the boundaries between performance and reality, stage and cinema, structure and improvisation, and the modern and the mythic. Amid rehearsals for a televised production of Racine’s “Andromaque,” an actor (Bulle Ogier) and theater director (Jean-Pierre Kalfon) see their marriage implode, a situation that grows increasingly volatile when he replaces her with his mistress.
[media=https://youtu.be/MMACUiX08q4]
Merry Go Round
Merry-Go-Round is a 1981 French experimental mystery directed by Jacques Rivette, starring Maria Schneider and Joe Dallesandro. The film, which revolves around a kidnapping plot, follows a structure similar to that of a crime drama. The script was written by Rivette in collaboration with Eduardo de Gregorio and Suzanne Schiffman, with dialogue by de Gregorio. Filming took place in 1977, but the film remained unreleased until 1981.
[media=https://youtu.be/3nuMBw2SwZY]
46-50, M
