Jacques Rivette

[accatone]

You askin' or allready found out?
Rohmer is fantastic in the bonus feature speaking german all the way...maybe for me the most interesting thing on the whole set as i am seriously troubleing with Rivette from day one. Its me, not Rivette of course! I am trying hard over years to appreciate his films! And he is such a nice and intelligent guy...but maybe not my cup of tea?

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

You askin' or allready found out?

a bit of both I read on another board that the bonus features are fixed and that Rivette is almost inaudible due to a german VO. True?

[accatone]

As iam still waiting for my Pasta water to start boiling i will check...
The introductions on each disk have optional german VO and optional STs!
so you can have these 100% french!

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

As iam still waiting for my Pasta water to start boiling i will check...
The introductions on each disk have optional german VO and optional STs!
so you can have these 100% french!

merci. J'espere que ton eau chaude ne se sauve pas.

[accatone]

Non non non, tout va bien d'ici! Bon appétit, A.

[martin]

Quoting from page 33 in the thread:

Bonus material: The 7 Rivette interviews (c. 38 mins. in total) have optional German subs and an optional German audio track. The remaining bonus feature (20 min.) has an original French/German audio track plus a German audio option. Some segments of this bonus features have original German audio, so it's not 100 percent French-friendly! None of the bonus features are English friendly.

[ola t]

Has anyone contacted AM about this?

I guess we all thought someone else must have contacted them already? I finally emailed them yesterday and got a response this morning:

Dear Ola,
thank you for your kind mail.

As no other masters are available,
we are not considering of making a corrected version of disc 1 now.

Best!
M---- ----
absolut Medien

[lefeufollet]

For those in Philadelphia, International House will be screening Le Pont du Nord, Céline and Julie Go Boating, and L'Amour fou in 35mm the first week of September. Jonathan Rosenbaum is slated to introduce Céline and Julie on the 6th.

[hill89]

I'm interested in watching both version of Out 1, but I'm not sure which to watch first, or if it even matters. I know Spectre is significantly shorter, but I've also heard that it has a very tone and feel and than Noli me Tangere, so I'm not sure if it matters. What's the general consensus?

[spectre]

Longer version first; shorter version second. That's really the only way to do it.

[nolanoe]

There is a Rivette retrospective in Berlin going on right now. So far, I've seen Duelle (knew it beforehand) and Paris Belongs to Us. Utterly magical!

The big deal is that they'll be showing the 13 hour version of OUT 1! It might well be the last big step for me to finally become a fully bloomed cinephile.

If anybody desires any reviews or can recommend a particular film (so far, me and my girlfriend will check out 11 of them) - be very open to do so.

[Michael Kerpan]

nolanoe -- really you can't go wrong with this retrospective. Which other films are you already planning to see

[nolanoe]

OK, here's what I got...

Seen so far:
Duelle
Paris Belongs to us
Noroit
La Religieuse
Le Pond Du Nord
Merry Go Round
Celine et Julie vont en Bateau

Still to see:
Out 1: Spectre
Out 1: Noli Me Tangre
Gang of Four
La Belle Noiseuse
Secret Defense
va Savoir
L'Histoire de Marie et Julien

MAYBE:
Haut Bas Fragile

Missed L'Amour Fou.

[Michael Kerpan]

As for me, I really enjoyed Haut bas fragile -- and recommend it highly.

[domino harvey]

You can skip Va savoir for a while, but definitely try to squeeze in Gang of Four, La Belle Noiseuse, and Secret Defense, as those are three of my favs by Rivette

[warren oates]

Va savoir and Haut bas fragile are really the only two you should consider skipping. L'Histoire de Marie et Julien is definitely a must-see, the last great film Rivette made and one of his most atmospheric.

[cinemartin]

Marie and Julien is also a great October movie. The atmosphere is definitely very autumn-like. A great Halloween movie!

[zedz]

Well, I love Va savoir, so I'd vote for that, but basically my principle would be DO NOT MISS anything that's not available on subbed DVD - i.e. Haut bas fragile and Out 1: Spectre. The other films you can catch up with at a later date, but I'd never pass up a chance to see the long Out 1 in a cinema. So that's four going on fourteen films. My next rec would be Gang of Four, which is a condensation of everything Rivette does best.

[oh yeah]

Marie and Julien is also a great October movie. The atmosphere is definitely very autumn-like. A great Halloween movie!

Yes! I have been wanting to watch it soon for precisely this reason. The film is a masterpiece and definitely my favorite by Rivette; I love the usual thick Rivette atmosphere but also the unexpected Vertigo/Solyaris-esque emotional punch.

[dfzp]

I'll say don't skip Haut Bas Fragile, it's probably his best film overall of his "second period". (I'd say: from Paris nous appartient to Le Pont du Nord would be the 1st period, from L'amour par terre onwards the 2nd). I think it holds the key to the "Rivette method" better than others. (The four films he made in the 90's are all magnificent, his best ones since Noroît)
Va savoir on the other hand is the worst film he's ever done.
36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup (don't know the English title) is also skippable (?).
Histoire de Marie et Julien is wonderful, and my personal favorite of his second period.

[Michael Kerpan]

I like Va savoir a lot -- but I think the DVD is either still in print or findable easy enough. I agree that Marie and Julien is, howeer, one of Rivette's best films ever.

The title "36 vues du Oic-St. Loup" can probably only be undertood if one realizes that it is a take off on Hokusai's famous collection of prints called "36 Views of Mt. Fuji". I would say, despite the great title, catch this on DVD.

"Gang of Four" has a sort of scary and occult mood that makes it suitable for Halloween season.

[mattkc]

I second Secret Defense. Haut Bas Fragile, while not as indispensable, is probably the one I could see more than any other (it's that enjoyable). What of Hurlevent though? His most maligned film, it has some of his greatest mise-en-scene I think, and performances, and play with time, and use of landscape (well, it's the only). I think Ne touchez pas la hache is the best of his last decade by a mile, but maybe you've already seen it. Really really do not "get" Marie et Julien...

[Michael Kerpan]

I think Hurlevent is certainly one of Rivette's best-looking films -- not a fan of Wuthering Heights (the overheated novel), so I had to overcome this obstacle before I could really appreciate Rivette's film version. Marie and Julien is another of Rivette's best-looking films -- and I find its story line (insofar as I can follow it) more appealing -- I also like the performances more.

[feihong]

I'll third Secret Defense. It took me a long time to want to watch it, but it turned out to be twisting, intense and morally complex, and stylish, to boot.

No one raves about Merry Go Round, but I think it's very enjoyable and interesting. Of the post-Celine & Julie Rivette pictures that feature archly-fake criminal underworlds and conspiracies, I find the simple conspiracy of Merry Go Round the most pleasing to encounter. The music is great and the acting is of a very unusual timbre, even for Rivette. And it's a very beautiful movie, with lots of rich, green forest scenes.

[Michael Kerpan]

Secret Defense is quite impressive (especially the remarkable Bonnaire-on-the-train scene). I wonder whether Rivette was familiar with the lengthy (and wordless) train scene in Ozu's Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice.

The problem with Rivette is that I can not, in good conscience, fail to recommend EVERYTHING.