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therewillbeblus wrote: Sun Jan 15, 2023 4:15 pm Revisited Va Savoir vis the longer cut. The first hour really dragged, and I almost turned it off thinking I’d hate it as much as I did the truncated version, but the cumulative vibe started to gel shortly into its second hour and I wound up really enjoying what Rivette was doing here. What becomes apparent in the end of even the short version is that Rivette is playing with screwball devices, but the original rhythm destroyed the necessary breathing room Rivette depends upon to aesthetically craft his intentions. It may read as oxymoronic, but in holding space for a tone to develop, the long cut flies by effortlessly starting in its second hour whereas the short cut never escaped its curious condensing of ideas to ascend beyond a slog. There was no reason to buy in when economy usurped a lucid flow, but here the comedy and drama finally blend and trade off well together. The moods are inserted inside Russian dolls storytelling and labyrinthine webs of extremely banal mysteries, even by Rivette’s standards. The joke seems to be in dissipating the mirage of rich gravitas present in his other work to focus more on a Woody Allen-esque sheen of light whimsical spirit. It's not among his very best films, but it does feel like the logical endpoint for his epic anti-mysteries, especially after he pushed the boundaries of his ethos into an entirely new genre of musical and then obliterated his anti-paranoia with a tangible answer in Secret Defense. It's much like how Woody Allen recalibrated all his past works' tropes and motifs into a diluted piece of lovely fluff in A Rainy Day in New York, as an old man therapeutically approaching the same content and concerns he's addressed throughout his career with a developed serenity from self-actualization. I thought Va Savoir played entirely differently with its extra third put back in place, and highly recommend anyone with access gives it another go when you have four hours to spare

spectre wrote: Sat Jan 11, 2025 9:22 am Like TWBB, I think the four-hour version is vastly superior to the shorter cut (which I also thought little of on first viewing), but I’d go further and say that it is one of his best – I’d be comfortable with placing it in or just outside his top five

Lowry_Sam wrote: Sun Nov 16, 2025 7:47 pm I think I am the only person here whose favorite Rivette is La Religieuse. I have the Kino blu but would upgrade to a UHD in an instant if a good one becomes available. I think it is Anna Karina’s 2nd best performance after Vivre sa vie. I’ve heard a lot of hate for it here but not much argumentation on why people dislike it so much.

Michael Kerpan wrote: Sun Nov 16, 2025 9:08 pm Is there a genuinely good looking subbed release of Religieuse yet. My recollection was that the (now rather old, I think) BD looked much worse color-wise than my unsubbed DVD, so I passed on this. I remember liking this despite the lack of subs, however. When Duchess came out, it felt a bit like a successor to this early film.