Screened
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- Now in his fifth decade of filmmaking, French master Jacques Rivette shows no signs of his intellectual arteries hardening or cinematic vigor diminishing. In fact, by all rights, his new film "The Story of Marie and Julien" should belong to a young indie filmmaker wanting to turn the cinema of the fantastic on its head with an audacious metaphysical drama.
As is nearly always the case, Rivette's rhythms are leisurely. The 150-minute film, which premiered here at the festival, studies its characters in the most scrupulous details of their often strange and enigmatic behavior. This is certainly the cinema of the art house, and even there many habitues may be immune to such a somber "Story".
At this particular moment in his life, Julien (Jerzy Radziwilowicz) -- a man in his 40s who repairs antique clocks in his old, rambling Paris house -- is dominated by two women. Marie (beautiful Emmanuelle Beart), whom he met the year before, then loved and lost, haunts his dreams. Madame X (Anne Brochet), a woman whose secrets he is privy to, falls victim to his blackmail scheme.
Then he encounters Marie again. While she is at times remote and lethargic, he eagerly enters into an affair with her that grows more passionate with each passing day.
Marie moves in with Julien and even participates in his blackmail scheme. She spends part of her days in an upstairs room, acquiring and rearranging its furniture for some ominous purpose. Julien continues to tinker with his clocks or, metaphorically speaking, with time, which seems to be working against him and Marie. But it is Madame X who understands the dangerous secret that could unravel the couple's life together.
Even as the contours of the secret grow more apparent before its revelation, Rivette, working from a story he developed with Pascal Bonitzer and Christine Laurent, ushers us slyly toward an ending that surprises and provokes, yet offers the possibility of love reborn.
The style is austere, with no music and a soundtrack frequently booming with everyday noises -- a shoe dropping, the tick of a clock, the scrape of moving furniture on a wood floor. The actors move and behave as if in a dream. The mood is grave, and those elements one might call "otherworldly" are presented matter-of-factly.
The couple's longing gazes and frenzied couplings suggest the passion of desperation, where even as they make love they fantasize about other lovers and couplings to make up for the fleeting time they have together. As the minimalist masterwork concludes, both Marie and Julien find the means to cope with the problems of memory, love and loss.
THE STORY OF MARIE AND JULIEN
Pierre Grise Prods.
Credits:
Director: Jacques Rivette
Screenwriters: Pascal Bonitzer, Christine Laurent, Jacques Rivette
Producer: Martine Marignac
Director of photography: William Lubtchansky
Production designer: Manu de Chauvigny
Costume designer: Laurence Struz
Editor: Nicole Lubtchansky
Cast:
Marie: Emmanuelle Beart
Julien: Jerzy Radziwilowicz
Madame X: Anne Brochet
Adrienne: Bettina Kee
Publisher: Olivier Cruveiller
Concierge: Mathias Jung
Friend: Nicole Garcia
Running time -- 150 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- Now in his fifth decade of filmmaking, French master Jacques Rivette shows no signs of his intellectual arteries hardening or cinematic vigor diminishing. In fact, by all rights, his new film "The Story of Marie and Julien" should belong to a young indie filmmaker wanting to turn the cinema of the fantastic on its head with an audacious metaphysical drama.
As is nearly always the case, Rivette's rhythms are leisurely. The 150-minute film, which premiered here at the festival, studies its characters in the most scrupulous details of their often strange and enigmatic behavior. This is certainly the cinema of the art house, and even there many habitues may be immune to such a somber "Story".
At this particular moment in his life, Julien (Jerzy Radziwilowicz) -- a man in his 40s who repairs antique clocks in his old, rambling Paris house -- is dominated by two women. Marie (beautiful Emmanuelle Beart), whom he met the year before, then loved and lost, haunts his dreams. Madame X (Anne Brochet), a woman whose secrets he is privy to, falls victim to his blackmail scheme.
Then he encounters Marie again. While she is at times remote and lethargic, he eagerly enters into an affair with her that grows more passionate with each passing day.
Marie moves in with Julien and even participates in his blackmail scheme. She spends part of her days in an upstairs room, acquiring and rearranging its furniture for some ominous purpose. Julien continues to tinker with his clocks or, metaphorically speaking, with time, which seems to be working against him and Marie. But it is Madame X who understands the dangerous secret that could unravel the couple's life together.
Even as the contours of the secret grow more apparent before its revelation, Rivette, working from a story he developed with Pascal Bonitzer and Christine Laurent, ushers us slyly toward an ending that surprises and provokes, yet offers the possibility of love reborn.
The style is austere, with no music and a soundtrack frequently booming with everyday noises -- a shoe dropping, the tick of a clock, the scrape of moving furniture on a wood floor. The actors move and behave as if in a dream. The mood is grave, and those elements one might call "otherworldly" are presented matter-of-factly.
The couple's longing gazes and frenzied couplings suggest the passion of desperation, where even as they make love they fantasize about other lovers and couplings to make up for the fleeting time they have together. As the minimalist masterwork concludes, both Marie and Julien find the means to cope with the problems of memory, love and loss.
THE STORY OF MARIE AND JULIEN
Pierre Grise Prods.
Credits:
Director: Jacques Rivette
Screenwriters: Pascal Bonitzer, Christine Laurent, Jacques Rivette
Producer: Martine Marignac
Director of photography: William Lubtchansky
Production designer: Manu de Chauvigny
Costume designer: Laurence Struz
Editor: Nicole Lubtchansky
Cast:
Marie: Emmanuelle Beart
Julien: Jerzy Radziwilowicz
Madame X: Anne Brochet
Adrienne: Bettina Kee
Publisher: Olivier Cruveiller
Concierge: Mathias Jung
Friend: Nicole Garcia
Running time -- 150 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Screened
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- Now in his fifth decade of filmmaking, French master Jacques Rivette shows no signs of his intellectual arteries hardening or cinematic vigor diminishing. In fact, by all rights, his new film "The Story of Marie and Julien" should belong to a young indie filmmaker wanting to turn the cinema of the fantastic on its head with an audacious metaphysical drama.
As is nearly always the case, Rivette's rhythms are leisurely. The 150-minute film, which premiered here at the festival, studies its characters in the most scrupulous details of their often strange and enigmatic behavior. This is certainly the cinema of the art house, and even there many habitues may be immune to such a somber "Story".
At this particular moment in his life, Julien (Jerzy Radziwilowicz) -- a man in his 40s who repairs antique clocks in his old, rambling Paris house -- is dominated by two women. Marie (beautiful Emmanuelle Beart), whom he met the year before, then loved and lost, haunts his dreams. Madame X (Anne Brochet), a woman whose secrets he is privy to, falls victim to his blackmail scheme.
Then he encounters Marie again. While she is at times remote and lethargic, he eagerly enters into an affair with her that grows more passionate with each passing day.
Marie moves in with Julien and even participates in his blackmail scheme. She spends part of her days in an upstairs room, acquiring and rearranging its furniture for some ominous purpose. Julien continues to tinker with his clocks or, metaphorically speaking, with time, which seems to be working against him and Marie. But it is Madame X who understands the dangerous secret that could unravel the couple's life together.
Even as the contours of the secret grow more apparent before its revelation, Rivette, working from a story he developed with Pascal Bonitzer and Christine Laurent, ushers us slyly toward an ending that surprises and provokes, yet offers the possibility of love reborn.
The style is austere, with no music and a soundtrack frequently booming with everyday noises -- a shoe dropping, the tick of a clock, the scrape of moving furniture on a wood floor. The actors move and behave as if in a dream. The mood is grave, and those elements one might call "otherworldly" are presented matter-of-factly.
The couple's longing gazes and frenzied couplings suggest the passion of desperation, where even as they make love they fantasize about other lovers and couplings to make up for the fleeting time they have together. As the minimalist masterwork concludes, both Marie and Julien find the means to cope with the problems of memory, love and loss.
THE STORY OF MARIE AND JULIEN
Pierre Grise Prods.
Credits:
Director: Jacques Rivette
Screenwriters: Pascal Bonitzer, Christine Laurent, Jacques Rivette
Producer: Martine Marignac
Director of photography: William Lubtchansky
Production designer: Manu de Chauvigny
Costume designer: Laurence Struz
Editor: Nicole Lubtchansky
Cast:
Marie: Emmanuelle Beart
Julien: Jerzy Radziwilowicz
Madame X: Anne Brochet
Adrienne: Bettina Kee
Publisher: Olivier Cruveiller
Concierge: Mathias Jung
Friend: Nicole Garcia
Running time -- 150 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- Now in his fifth decade of filmmaking, French master Jacques Rivette shows no signs of his intellectual arteries hardening or cinematic vigor diminishing. In fact, by all rights, his new film "The Story of Marie and Julien" should belong to a young indie filmmaker wanting to turn the cinema of the fantastic on its head with an audacious metaphysical drama.
As is nearly always the case, Rivette's rhythms are leisurely. The 150-minute film, which premiered here at the festival, studies its characters in the most scrupulous details of their often strange and enigmatic behavior. This is certainly the cinema of the art house, and even there many habitues may be immune to such a somber "Story".
At this particular moment in his life, Julien (Jerzy Radziwilowicz) -- a man in his 40s who repairs antique clocks in his old, rambling Paris house -- is dominated by two women. Marie (beautiful Emmanuelle Beart), whom he met the year before, then loved and lost, haunts his dreams. Madame X (Anne Brochet), a woman whose secrets he is privy to, falls victim to his blackmail scheme.
Then he encounters Marie again. While she is at times remote and lethargic, he eagerly enters into an affair with her that grows more passionate with each passing day.
Marie moves in with Julien and even participates in his blackmail scheme. She spends part of her days in an upstairs room, acquiring and rearranging its furniture for some ominous purpose. Julien continues to tinker with his clocks or, metaphorically speaking, with time, which seems to be working against him and Marie. But it is Madame X who understands the dangerous secret that could unravel the couple's life together.
Even as the contours of the secret grow more apparent before its revelation, Rivette, working from a story he developed with Pascal Bonitzer and Christine Laurent, ushers us slyly toward an ending that surprises and provokes, yet offers the possibility of love reborn.
The style is austere, with no music and a soundtrack frequently booming with everyday noises -- a shoe dropping, the tick of a clock, the scrape of moving furniture on a wood floor. The actors move and behave as if in a dream. The mood is grave, and those elements one might call "otherworldly" are presented matter-of-factly.
The couple's longing gazes and frenzied couplings suggest the passion of desperation, where even as they make love they fantasize about other lovers and couplings to make up for the fleeting time they have together. As the minimalist masterwork concludes, both Marie and Julien find the means to cope with the problems of memory, love and loss.
THE STORY OF MARIE AND JULIEN
Pierre Grise Prods.
Credits:
Director: Jacques Rivette
Screenwriters: Pascal Bonitzer, Christine Laurent, Jacques Rivette
Producer: Martine Marignac
Director of photography: William Lubtchansky
Production designer: Manu de Chauvigny
Costume designer: Laurence Struz
Editor: Nicole Lubtchansky
Cast:
Marie: Emmanuelle Beart
Julien: Jerzy Radziwilowicz
Madame X: Anne Brochet
Adrienne: Bettina Kee
Publisher: Olivier Cruveiller
Concierge: Mathias Jung
Friend: Nicole Garcia
Running time -- 150 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 9/12/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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