The Story of Marie & Julien opens in a dream of a dream. It is an appropriate beginning, as most of the film unfolds in a dreamlike or trance like state. Like most French films The Story of Marie & Julien moves slowly, however, for a change the slow pace intensifies both character development and the plot.
Initially, both Marie and Julien are individuals who are stuck. Marie explains to Julien that she is "waiting," while Julien appears to be frozen in time and place. Both characters have lost significant others at the film's opening. We are never able to determine whether Julien is frozen because he lost his lover or lost his lover because he is frozen. Marie in contrast, we learn during the course of the film has returned from a far place to repent for a wrong that she committed against her former lover. Unfortunately, her lover is now deceased. This leaves Marie unable to accomplish her task--hence the waiting.
From the moment that Julien sees Marie again, he is certain of what he has been waiting for. He bumps into Marie shortly after awaking from his dream. He finds, to his surprise, that she has also been thinking of him. The two of them arrange a meeting before Julien sprints off to an appointment that he is late for. Here the movie takes a strange turn and Julien is revealed to be the most unlikely and least believable criminal in movie history. His victim, Madam X, seems better suited to the task. Indeed, she seems to find Julien more mildly amusing, than threatening.
As constructed, Julien's actions seem to be more of a lark than a criminal activity. It is something to do, a diversion from a boring life. He gives the impression that that his true joy comes from disarming Madam X with his crazy demands and his apparent indifference to the outcome of his criminal enterprise. As a character Julien is crotchety and cantankerous, at least mildly depressed, a loner, and outwardly perceived as "mean." In Marie, Julien has met his match. She is indefinable. She fails to keep their planned meeting only to arrive at his home unannounced. She invites him to dinner, spends the night with him, and then disappears early in the morning while he is asleep. She does and says things that she claims to not remember. She, like Julien, is slightly out of phase with the world around her. Julien is desperate to connect with her. Explaining to Marie that he needs her, he soon has her moving into his sprawling house, which is more workshop than home.
Julien is a clock smith who works on antique clocks by sound, not sight or touch. According to Julien they are all reparable;it is just a matter of patience. He demonstrates this patience by disassembling and reassembling them time after time until he gets it right. He uses the same method with Marie. Soon, to her surprise, they are passionately in love. Unfortunately, love is not enough. Marie is bound by time constraints and a mandate to rectify a wrong. Lacking her former lover, Marie begins to use Julien as his proxy, hoping to win Julien's forgiveness and release. Working both consciously and unconsciously, directed by her dreams--Marie's behaviors become increasingly bizarre. Madam X, who meets Marie during a blackmail payoff immediately knows what the problem is and shares her knowledge with Julien. Doing further research, Julien is able to piece Marie's story together but decides that it makes little difference to him. The facts, while astounding, make no difference in his love for her.
Marie and Julien are left at an impasse. Julien is willing to do anything for Marie, up to freeing her. His love for her will not let him go any further than this. Either she will stay with him or he will follow her. Life without her has become unthinkable. Finally, Marie bows to the futility of her situation. Achieving her mission would put Julien at risk. Rather than risk her lover, she chooses to accept her punishment for failure. The punishment proves to be heart rending for Marie as it forces her to observe Julien's life without her in it. It is a life that is sad, lonely, and hopeless. Julien's only accompaniment is the constant ticking of his clocks marking the passage of time and the ringing of the bell around the neck of his cat Nevermore. He is frozen once again.
This is the typical ending for a French film. I was pleasantly surprised when Rivette found a way to surmount an insurmountable problem and take the film in another direction. It is an ending that works. When two people love, it says, nothing is impossible.
This is a really good film.
Initially, both Marie and Julien are individuals who are stuck. Marie explains to Julien that she is "waiting," while Julien appears to be frozen in time and place. Both characters have lost significant others at the film's opening. We are never able to determine whether Julien is frozen because he lost his lover or lost his lover because he is frozen. Marie in contrast, we learn during the course of the film has returned from a far place to repent for a wrong that she committed against her former lover. Unfortunately, her lover is now deceased. This leaves Marie unable to accomplish her task--hence the waiting.
From the moment that Julien sees Marie again, he is certain of what he has been waiting for. He bumps into Marie shortly after awaking from his dream. He finds, to his surprise, that she has also been thinking of him. The two of them arrange a meeting before Julien sprints off to an appointment that he is late for. Here the movie takes a strange turn and Julien is revealed to be the most unlikely and least believable criminal in movie history. His victim, Madam X, seems better suited to the task. Indeed, she seems to find Julien more mildly amusing, than threatening.
As constructed, Julien's actions seem to be more of a lark than a criminal activity. It is something to do, a diversion from a boring life. He gives the impression that that his true joy comes from disarming Madam X with his crazy demands and his apparent indifference to the outcome of his criminal enterprise. As a character Julien is crotchety and cantankerous, at least mildly depressed, a loner, and outwardly perceived as "mean." In Marie, Julien has met his match. She is indefinable. She fails to keep their planned meeting only to arrive at his home unannounced. She invites him to dinner, spends the night with him, and then disappears early in the morning while he is asleep. She does and says things that she claims to not remember. She, like Julien, is slightly out of phase with the world around her. Julien is desperate to connect with her. Explaining to Marie that he needs her, he soon has her moving into his sprawling house, which is more workshop than home.
Julien is a clock smith who works on antique clocks by sound, not sight or touch. According to Julien they are all reparable;it is just a matter of patience. He demonstrates this patience by disassembling and reassembling them time after time until he gets it right. He uses the same method with Marie. Soon, to her surprise, they are passionately in love. Unfortunately, love is not enough. Marie is bound by time constraints and a mandate to rectify a wrong. Lacking her former lover, Marie begins to use Julien as his proxy, hoping to win Julien's forgiveness and release. Working both consciously and unconsciously, directed by her dreams--Marie's behaviors become increasingly bizarre. Madam X, who meets Marie during a blackmail payoff immediately knows what the problem is and shares her knowledge with Julien. Doing further research, Julien is able to piece Marie's story together but decides that it makes little difference to him. The facts, while astounding, make no difference in his love for her.
Marie and Julien are left at an impasse. Julien is willing to do anything for Marie, up to freeing her. His love for her will not let him go any further than this. Either she will stay with him or he will follow her. Life without her has become unthinkable. Finally, Marie bows to the futility of her situation. Achieving her mission would put Julien at risk. Rather than risk her lover, she chooses to accept her punishment for failure. The punishment proves to be heart rending for Marie as it forces her to observe Julien's life without her in it. It is a life that is sad, lonely, and hopeless. Julien's only accompaniment is the constant ticking of his clocks marking the passage of time and the ringing of the bell around the neck of his cat Nevermore. He is frozen once again.
This is the typical ending for a French film. I was pleasantly surprised when Rivette found a way to surmount an insurmountable problem and take the film in another direction. It is an ending that works. When two people love, it says, nothing is impossible.
This is a really good film.