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Jacques Rivette filmography

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Man in a hat and red scarf smiling
Rivette in 2006

Jacques Rivette (French: [ʒak ʁivɛt]; 1 March 1928 – 29 January 2016) was a French film director, screenwriter and film critic. He wrote and directed twenty feature films, including the two-part Joan the Maiden, eight short films and a three-part television documentary. He also acted in small roles and participated in documentaries.[1] After making his first short film, Aux quatre coins, in his hometown of Rouen,[2] Rivette moved to Paris in 1949 to pursue a career in filmmaking.[3] While attending film screenings at Henri Langlois' Cinémathèque Française and other ciné-clubs he gradually befriended many future members of the French New Wave, including François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Éric Rohmer and Claude Chabrol.[4] Rivette's association with this group of young cinephiles led to the start of both his filmmaking career and his work in film criticism. In collaboration with his new friends, Rivette made two more short films and worked as a cinematographer and editor on films by Rohmer and Truffaut.[5][6][7] He also worked in small roles and as an assistant director to Jean Renoir on French Cancan and Jacques Becker on Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.[8][9][10] During this period he began writing film criticism for the magazine Gazette du Cinéma and later Cahiers du Cinéma,[3][11] and was one of the most respected writers by his peers.[12]

In 1956 Rivette made the short film Le Coup du Berger, which Truffaut credited as enacting the New Wave movement.[13] The following year he began work on his first feature film with the initial support of Italian neorealist director Roberto Rossellini.[14] Paris Belongs to Us was shot in the summer of 1958,[15] but not released theatrically until 1961,[13] after Chabrol, Truffaut and Godard had their feature-film debuts distributed and made the New Wave renowned worldwide.[16] After staging a theatrical version of Denis Diderot's novel La Religieuse starring Anna Karina in 1963,[17] Rivette became the editor-in-chief of Cahiers du Cinéma until 1965.[18] He then began production on a film version of La Religieuse, which led to a lengthy public battle with French censorship over the film's release.[19] Finally released in 1967, the publicity made it financially successful.[16]

Rivette was unhappy with La Religieuse and re-evaluated his career, developing a unique cinematic style with L'Amour fou.[16] Influenced by the political turmoil of May 1968, improvisational theater and an in-depth interview with Jean Renoir,[20] Rivette began working with large groups of actors on character development and allowing events to unfold on camera. This technique led to the thirteen-hour Out 1.[16] His films of the 1970s, such as Celine and Julie Go Boating, often incorporated fantasy and were better-regarded. After attempting to make four consecutive films, however, Rivette had a nervous breakdown and his career slowed for several years, with films such as Merry-Go-Round and Le Pont du Nord being difficult productions.[21][22][23]

During the early 1980s, he began a business partnership with producer Martine Marignac, who produced all his subsequent films.[24] Rivette's output increased from then on, with films such as Gang of Four and La Belle Noiseuse receiving international praise.[25][26] He continued making films until 2009,[27] retiring after the early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease made the production of 36 vues du pic Saint-Loup too difficult for him to continue.[27] Many of his films are known for their long running time, including the 760-minute Out 1. Almost always at the insistence of the distributors, Rivette edited shorter versions of five of his films and considered some of them to be entirely new films with different meanings.[1]

Films

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Feature films

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Year Title Original title Duration (mins) Awards Notes Ref.
1961 Paris Belongs to Us Paris nous appartient 141 Sutherland Trophy Made 1957 to 1959. [28][29][30]
1966 The Nun La Religieuse 140 Filming began in 1965 [31]
1969 Mad Love L'Amour fou 252 Sutherland Trophy Alternative version: 120 minutes [31][32]
1971 Out 1: Don't Touch Me Out 1: Noli me tangere 760 Official alternate version: Out 1: Spectre (1974; 260 minutes). "Restored" version of Out 1: Noli me tangere (2006; 750 minutes) [31]
1974 Celine and Julie Go Boating Céline et Julie vont en bateau 193 Special Prize of the Jury at the Locarno International Film Festival [33][34]
1976 Duelle Duelle (une quarantaine) 120 Part 2: Scènes de la vie parallèle / Les Filles du Feu (Scenes of a Parallel Life / Girls of Fire) [33]
1976 Noroît Noroît (une vengeance) 130 Part 3: Scènes de la vie parallèle / Les Filles du Feu (Scenes of a Parallel Life / Girls of Fire)
Not theatrically released
[35]
1980 Merry-Go-Round Merry-Go-Round 155 Filming began in 1977, post-production was completed in 1981 [35]
1981 Le Pont du Nord Le Pont du Nord 127 [35]
1984 Love on the Ground L'amour par terre 170 Alternative version: 120 minutes [35]
1985 Wuthering Heights Hurlevent 130 [36]
1989 Gang of Four La Bande des quatre 160 FIPRESCI Award and Honorable Mention at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival [36][37]
1991 La Belle Noiseuse La Belle Noiseuse 240 Grand Prize of the Jury and Special Mention Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Cannes Film Festival
Best Foreign Film from the Kinema Junpo Awards
Prix Méliès from the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics
Best Foreign Film from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
Official alternate version: La Belle Noiseuse: Divertimento (1991; 120 minutes) [36][38][39][40][41]
1994 Joan the Maiden Jeanne la Pucelle 335 Joan the Maiden, Part 1: The Battles (160 minutes), Joan the Maiden, Part 2: The Prisons (175 minutes) [42]
1995 Up, Down, Fragile Haut bas fragile 170 [43]
1998 Top Secret Secret défense 170 [43]
2001 Who Knows? Va savoir 154 Best Foreign Film at the Turia Awards
Jury Special Prize at the Valladolid International Film Festival
Original director's cut: Va savoir+ (2002; 220 minutes) [43][44][45]
2003 The Story of Marie and Julien Histoire de Marie et Julien 151 Unofficially Part 1: Scènes de la vie parallèle / Les Filles du Feu (Scenes of a Parallel Life / Girls of Fire) [46]
2007 The Duchess of Langeais Ne touchez pas la hache 137 [46]
2009 Around a Small Mountain 36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup 84 [29]

Short films and television work

[edit]
Year Title Original title Length Notes Ref.
1949 At the Four Corners Aux quatre coins 20 minutes Previously believed to be lost, rediscovered in 2016 [29][47]
1950 The Quadrille Le quadrille 40 minutes Previously believed to be lost, rediscovered in 2016 [29][47]
1952 The Diversion Le divertissement 40 minutes Previously believed to be lost, rediscovered in 2016 [29][47]
1956 Fool's Mate Le Coup du berger 28 minutes [29]
1966 Portrait of Michel Simon by Jean Renoir or Portrait of Jean Renoir by Michel Simon or The direction of actors: dialogue Portrait de Michel Simon par Jean Renoir ou Portrait de Jean Renoir par Michel Simon ou La direction d'acteurs: dialogue 97 minutes Episode from the TV series Cinéastes de notre temps [29]
1967 Jean Renoir, The Master, Parts 1–3 Jean Renoir, le patron 266 minutes Three episodes from the TV series Cinéastes de notre temps: La recherché du relatif, La direction d'acteurs and La regle et l'exception [29]
1973 Essai sur l'agression Essai sur l'agression 23 minutes [29]
1974 Birth and Death of Prometheus Naissance et mort de Prométhée 41 minutes [29]
1981 Paris Goes Away Paris s'en va 30 minutes Short film made as a "rehearsal" for Le Pont du Nord from outtakes, alternate takes, and extra footage [48][16]
1995 One of Ninon's Adventures "Paris" Segment 52 seconds Part of the omnibus film Lumiere and Company [29]

Other work

[edit]
Year Title Director Role Notes Ref.
1950 Le Château de verre René Clément Actor Rivette and Godard appear as extras approximately 47 minutes into the film [8]
1952 Les Petites filles modèles Éric Rohmer Editor (uncredited) Short film (unfinished) [49]
1954 Bérénice Éric Rohmer Cinematographer, Editor Short film [50]
1954 Une Visite François Truffaut Cinematographer Short film [48]
1954 Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves Jacques Becker Assistant director [10]
1954 French Cancan Jean Renoir Assistant director [10]
1956 La Sonate à Kreutzer Éric Rohmer Cinematographer Short film [48]
1956 Fool's Mate Jacques Rivette Narrator (uncredited) Short film [10]
1960 À bout de souffle Jean-Luc Godard Actor Played the dead body of a man who was hit by a car [48]
1961 Paris Belongs to Us Jacques Rivette Actor Played the Romanian man at the party [48]
1961 Jean Renoir parle de son art, Parts 1–3 Jean-Marie Coldefy Interviewer Rivette interviewed Renoir for three TV episodes: 1: Le cinéma et la parole, 2: Les progress de la technique, and 3: Le retour au naturel [51]
1961 Chronique d'un été Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin Participant Rivette appeared briefly with his girlfriend Marilù Parolini, who was a main subject in the documentary [10]
1970 Rome is Burning (Portrait of Shirley Clarke) André S. Labarthe Interviewee Episode of Cinéastes de notre temps [52]
1977 Toute révolution est un coup de dés Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet Dedicatee Shot by William Lubtchansky and co-starring Marilù Parolini [53]
1979 La mémoire courte Eduardo de Gregorio Actor Played Marcel Jaucourt. Shot by William Lubtchansky and edited by Nicole Lubtchansky [29][48]
1983 Rivette et Stévenin vont au bistrot Jean-François Stévenin Interviewee Episode of Cinéma, Cinémas [54]
1989 Rivette: Histories du titres Michel Boujut and Claude Ventura Interviewee Episode of Cinéma, Cinémas [55]
1990 Jacques Rivette, le veilleur Claire Denis and Serge Daney Interviewee Full-length biography, episode of Cinéastes de notre temps [29][48]
1994 Joan the Maiden, Part 1: The Battles Jacques Rivette Actor Played le prêtre [56]
1995 Up, Down, Fragile Jacques Rivette Actor Played Monsieur Pierre [57]

Theater work

[edit]
Dates Title Venue Notes Ref.
February 6 to March 5, 1963 La Religieuse Studio des Champs-Élysées Later adapted into the film La Religieuse. [17]
April 18 to May 20, 1989 Tite et Bérénice and Bajazet Théâtre Gérard Philipe Same main cast from Gang of Four. [17]

Alternative versions of his films

[edit]
Michel Piccoli with his arm around Emmanuelle Béart
Emmanuelle Béart and Michel Piccoli at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. Rivette cut a shorter version of La Belle Noiseuse called La Belle noiseuse: Divertimento.

Rivette edited shorter versions of several of his films with long running times. When L'Amour fou was released in January 1969 the 127 minute alternate version was simultaneously released at the production company's request. This version was simply a shorter version of the original work and Rivette immediately disowned it.[58]

The shorter Out 1: Spectre was 260 minutes and released in March 1974.[59] Rivette said that Spectre was more of "a fiction about certain characters", "much tighter", "more compelling"[60] and that it was "a different film having its own logic; closer to a jigsaw or crossword puzzle than was [Noli me tangere], playing less on affectivity, more on rhymes and contrasts, ruptures and connections, caesurae and censorship."[61] When Out 1: Noli me tangere was restored in 2006, Rivette re-edited the film, rearranging scenes and cutting a ten-minute sequence out of the original 760 minute version.[62]

Love on the Ground was released as a 120-minute version after Rivette was forced to cut 50 minutes by the film's distributor.[63] He said that the longer version was more complex and "structured similarly to Raymond Roussel's New Impressions of Africa, where there is a phrase, and then a parenthesis, which is tied to yet another phrase, and another parenthesis, ad infinitum." In order to cut 50 minutes out he simply "lifted the parentheses."[64]

The shorter cut of La Belle noiseuse (called La Belle noiseuse: Divertimento) was 120 minutes. He made this version due to contractual obligations to the film's producers and used different takes than the original film. This version is an entirely new film and not just a shorter version of the original work. The word Divertimento is both a reference to Igor Stravinsky's Divertimento from Le baiser de la fée and translates to a "not too serious work."[65] This shorter version changes the film's focus from the process of creating art to the evaluation of the finished product.[66]

Rivette's original 220 minute cut of Va Savoir (called Va Savoir+) premiered on 24 April 2002 and only sold 1,734 tickets in its seven-week theatrical run at the cinema du Pantheon in Paris.[67] Rivette said that Va Savoir+ is a completely different film than Va Savoir, the major difference being lengthy scenes of the actors performing Pirandello's Come tu mi vuoi instead of just rehearsals. Rivette said that in the longer version Pirandello's play is "another character" in the film.[68]

See also

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References

[edit]
Notes
  1. ^ a b Wiles 2012, pp. 151–162.
  2. ^ Baecque 2010, p. 55.
  3. ^ a b Baecque 2010, p. 39.
  4. ^ Baecque 2010, p. 37.
  5. ^ Monaco 1976, p. 313.
  6. ^ Wiles 2012, p. 2.
  7. ^ Wiles 2012, p. 3.
  8. ^ a b "Jacques Rivette". AlloCiné. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  9. ^ "Le Château de verre". UniFrance. Archived from the original on 1 January 2023. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  10. ^ a b c d e "BFI | Film & TV Database | Rivette, Jacques". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 5 February 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  11. ^ Baecque 2010, p. 52.
  12. ^ Baecque & Toubiana 1999, p. 49.
  13. ^ a b Baecque & Toubiana 1999, p. 150.
  14. ^ Gallagher 1998, p. 458.
  15. ^ Truffaut 1994, p. 320.
  16. ^ a b c d e Wakeman 1988, pp. 895–902.
  17. ^ a b c Wiles 2012, p. 162.
  18. ^ Brody 2008, p. 207.
  19. ^ Wiles 2012, p. 24.
  20. ^ Wiles 2012, p. 41.
  21. ^ Wiles 2012, p. 63.
  22. ^ Wiles 2012, pp. 143–144.
  23. ^ Wiles 2012, p. 74.
  24. ^ Wiles 2012, p. 146.
  25. ^ Wiles 2012, p. 115.
  26. ^ Austerlitz, Saul (January 2003). "Jacques Rivette – Great Director profile". Senses of Cinema. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  27. ^ a b Tonet, Aureliano; Nouchi, Franck; Mandelbaum, Jacques; Sotinel, Thomas; Fabre, Clarisse (30 January 2016). "Pour Rivette, les films étaient constitués comme des complots". Le Monde (in French). Archived from the original on 27 August 2022. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  28. ^ Morrey & Smith 2010, pp. 255.
  29. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Jacques Rivette". AllMovie. Allrovi. Archived from the original on 3 June 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  30. ^ "Paris nous appartient , Paris is ours". Metropolis Art Cinema. 2012. Archived from the original on 19 October 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  31. ^ a b c Morrey & Smith 2010, pp. 256.
  32. ^ "L'amour fou". MUBI. Archived from the original on 30 December 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  33. ^ a b Morrey & Smith 2010, pp. 257.
  34. ^ "Palmarès". Locarno International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 6 July 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  35. ^ a b c d Morrey & Smith 2010, pp. 258.
  36. ^ a b c Morrey & Smith 2010, pp. 259.
  37. ^ "Berlinale: 1989 Prize Winners". Berlin International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
  38. ^ "Le Palmarès 1991 : Compétition". Cannes Film Festival. Archived from the original on 25 November 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  39. ^ "La belle noiseuse". MUBI. Archived from the original on 6 July 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  40. ^ "キネマ旬報 ベスト・テン 1992年・第66回" [66th Kinema Junpo Best Ten - 1992]. Kinema Junpo (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 23 June 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  41. ^ "Liste des Prix du meilleur film français depuis 1946" (in French). French Syndicate of Cinema Critics. Archived from the original on 28 January 2011. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  42. ^ Morrey & Smith 2010, pp. 260.
  43. ^ a b c Morrey & Smith 2010, pp. 261.
  44. ^ "Xii Premis Turia 2003". Cartlelra Turia. Archived from the original on 16 May 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  45. ^ "Así fueron ... Los ganadores del festival (2001–2015)". Valladolid International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  46. ^ a b Morrey & Smith 2010, pp. 262.
  47. ^ a b c Pichard, Hervé (10 May 2016). "Il a bien fallu que naisse un jour le cinéma moderne... » : trois courts métrages inédits de Jacques Rivette" (in French). Cinémathèque française. Archived from the original on 30 May 2023. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  48. ^ a b c d e f g "Jacques Rivette filmographie". Ciné-Ressources. Cinémathèque française. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  49. ^ Baecque & Herpe 2016, p. 79.
  50. ^ Baecque & Herpe 2016, p. 91.
  51. ^ "Jean Renoir parle de son art". Cinémathèque Québécoise. Archived from the original on 26 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  52. ^ "Shirley Clarke: Rome is Burning". Film Society of Lincoln Center. Archived from the original on 26 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  53. ^ "Toute révolution est un coup de dés". www.straub-huillet.com. Archived from the original on 26 May 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  54. ^ "Hommage à Jacques Rivette". Cinémathèque française. 16 March 2016. Archived from the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  55. ^ "Rivette : histoires de titres". Institut national de l'audiovisuel. 5 March 1989. Archived from the original on 10 May 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  56. ^ Wiles 2012, p. 157.
  57. ^ Wiles 2012, p. 158.
  58. ^ Wiles 2012, p. 42.
  59. ^ Wiles 2012, pp. 153–154.
  60. ^ Wiles 2012, p. 58.
  61. ^ Wiles 2012, p. 54.
  62. ^ Wiles 2012, p. 137.
  63. ^ Wiles 2012, p. 156.
  64. ^ Wiles 2012, p. 116.
  65. ^ Wiles 2012, p. 38.
  66. ^ Wiles 2012, p. 40.
  67. ^ Wiles 2012, p. 160.
  68. ^ Wiles 2012, p. 91.
Bibliography