Jacques Rivette filmography
Jacques Rivette (French: [ʒak ʁivɛt]; 1 March 1928 – 29 January 2016) was a French film director, screenwriter and film critic. He began his career as a critic at Cahiers du cinéma in the 1950s and was a member of the French New Wave. His career did not achieve immediate success as fellow New Wave directors François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard and Claude Chabrol experienced, but he found his personal style of improvisational filmmaking in the late 1960s and has made highly regarded films in the subsequent decades. He has directed twenty feature films, including the two-part Joan the Maiden, eight short films, a three-part television documentary and was an interviewer on another three-part television documentary. He has also acted in small roles or was interviewed in a few films. 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
Feature films
| Release | Title | Original title | Length | Awards | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Paris Belongs to Us | Paris nous appartient | 140 minutes | Sutherland Trophy | Filming began in 1958. | |
| 1967 | The Nun | La Religieuse | 135 minutes | Filming began in 1965. | ||
| 1969 | Mad Love | L'amour fou | 250 minutes | Sutherland Trophy | Alternative version: 120 minutes. | |
| 1971 | Out 1: Don't Touch Me | Out 1: Noli me tangere | 760 minutes | Official alternate version: Out 1: Spectre (1974; 260 minutes). "Restored" version of Out 1: Noli me tangere (2006; 750 minutes). | ||
| 1974 | Celine and Julie Go Boating | Céline et Julie vont en bateau | 185 minutes | Special Prize of the Jury at the Locarno International Film Festival | ||
| 1976 | Duelle | Duelle (une quarantaine) | 120 minutes | Part 2: Scènes de la vie parallèle / Les Filles du Feu / Scenes of a Parallel Life / Girls of Fire | ||
| 1976 | Noroît | Noroît (une vengeance) | 130 minutes | Part 3: Scènes de la vie parallèle / Les Filles du Feu / Scenes of a Parallel Life / Girls of Fire Not theatrically released. | ||
| 1983 | Merry-Go-Round | Merry-Go-Round | 155 minutes | Filming began in 1977, post-production was completed in 1981. | ||
| 1982 | Le Pont du Nord | Le Pont du Nord | 127 minutes | |||
| 1984 | Love on the Ground | L'amour par terre | 170 minutes | Alternative version: 120 minutes. | ||
| 1985 | Wuthering Heights | Hurlevent | 130 minutes | |||
| 1988 | Gang of Four | La Bande des quatre | 160 minutes | FIPRESCI Award and Honorable Mention at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival | ||
| 1991 | La Belle Noiseuse | La Belle Noiseuse | 240 minutes | 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). | |
| 1994 | Joan the Maiden | Jeanne la Pucelle | 335 minutes | Joan the Maiden, Part 1: The Battles (160 minutes), Joan the Maiden, Part 2: The Prisons (175 minutes) | ||
| 1995 | Up, Down, Fragile | Haut bas fragile | 170 minutes | |||
| 1998 | Top Secret | Secret défense | 170 minutes | |||
| 2001 | Who Knows? | Va savoir | 150 minutes | Best Foreign Film at the Turia Awards Jury Special Prize at the Valladolid International Film Festival | Official alternate cut: Va savoir+ (2002; 220 minutes). | |
| 2003 | The Story of Marie and Julien | Histoire de Marie et Julien | 151 minutes | Unofficially Part 1: Scènes de la vie parallèle / Les Filles du Feu / Scenes of a Parallel Life / Girls of Fire | ||
| 2007 | The Duchess of Langeais | Ne touchez pas la hache | 137 minutes | |||
| 2009 | Around a Small Mountain | 36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup | 84 minutes |
Short films and television work
| Year | Title | Original title | Length | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | At the Four Corners | Aux quatre coins | 20 minutes | Lost. |
| 1950 | The Quadrille | Le quadrille | 40 minutes | Lost. |
| 1952 | The Diversion | Le divertissement | 45 minutes | |
| 1956 | Fool's Mate | Le Coup du berger | 30 minutes | |
| 1966 | Jean Renoir, The Master, Parts 1-3 | Jean Renoir, le patron | 154 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. |
| 1973 | Essai sur l'agression | Essai sur l'agression | 23 minutes | |
| 1974 | Naissance et mont de Prométhée | Naissance et mort de Prométhée | 41 minutes | |
| 1981 | Paris Goes Away | Paris s'en va | 25 minutes | Short film made as a rehearsal for Le Pont du Nord. |
| 1995 | One of Ninon's Adventures | "Paris" Segment | 52 seconds | Part of the omnibus film Lumiere and Company. |
Other work
| Year | Title | Director | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Le Château de verre | René Clément | Actor (Un passant) | |
| 1954 | Bérénice | Éric Rohmer | Cinematographer | Short film |
| 1954 | Une Visite | François Truffaut | Cinematographer | Short film |
| 1954 | Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves | Jacques Becker | Assistant to the director | |
| 1954 | French Cancan | Jean Renoir | Assistant to the director | |
| 1956 | La Sonate à Kreutzer | Éric Rohmer | Cinematographer | Short film |
| 1956 | Fool's Mate | Jacques Rivette | Narrator | Short film |
| 1957 | 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 |
| 1961 | Paris Belongs to Us | Jacques Rivette | Actor (Romanian man at the party) | |
| 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 |
| 1970 | Rome is Burning | Andre S. Labarthe | Interviewee | Episode of Cinéastes de notre temps |
| 1977 | Toute révolution est un coup de dés | Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet | Dedicatee | Shot by William Lubtchansky and co-starring Marilù Parolini |
| 1979 | La mémoire courte | Eduardo de Gregorio | Actor (Marcel Jaucourt) | Shot by William Lubtchansky and edited by Nicole Lubtchansky |
| 1990 | Jacques Rivette, le veilleur | Claire Denis and Serge Daney | Interviewee | |
| 1994 | Joan the Maiden, Part 1: The Battles | Jacques Rivette | Actor (Le prêtre) | |
| 1995 | Up, Down, Fragile | Jacques Rivette | Actor (Monsieur Pierre) |
Theater work
| Dates | Title | Venue | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 6 to March 5, 1963 | La Religieuse | Studio des Champs-Élysées | Later adapted into the film La Religieuse. |
| April 18 to May 20, 1989 | Tite et Bérénice and Bajazet | Théâtre Gérard Philipe | Same main cast from Gang of Four. |
Alternative versions of his films
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.[2]
The shorter Out 1: Spectre was 260 minutes and released in March 1974.[3] Rivette said that Spectre was more of "a fiction about certain characters", "much tighter", "more compelling"[4] 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."[5] 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.[6]
Love on the Ground was released as a 120-minute version[7] after Rivette was forced to cut 50 minutes by the film's distributor. 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."[8]
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."[9] This shorter version changes the film's focus from the process of creating art to the evaluation of the finished product.[10]
Rivette's original 220 minute cut of Va Savoir (called Va Savoir+) premiered on April 24, 2002 and only sold 1,734 tickets in its seven-week theatreical run at the cinema du Pantheon in Paris.[11] 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.[12]
Home video availability
Due to the rare nature of Rivette's works, many DVDs (such as the Region 1 Facets release of Jeanne la pucelle, and every DVD release globally of Va savoir) are of these alternate, shorter edits of his films. The complete version of his two-part film Jeanne la Pucelle was finally released by Artificial Eye on Region 2 DVD in the UK in 2009. New Yorker Films announced it would release a Blu-ray of Celine and Julie Go Boating in 2012.[13] The German company absolut MEDIEN released the complete Out 1: Don't Touch Me with Spectre onto DVD in 2013.[14]
References
- Notes
- ↑ Wiles 2012, pp. 151-162.
- ↑ Wiles 2012, p. 42.
- ↑ Wiles 2012, pp. 153-154.
- ↑ Wiles 2012, p. 58.
- ↑ Wiles 2012, p. 54.
- ↑ Wiles 2012, p. 137.
- ↑ Wiles 2012, p. 156.
- ↑ Wiles 2012, p. 116.
- ↑ Wiles 2012, p. 38.
- ↑ Wiles 2012, p. 40.
- ↑ Wiles 2012, p. 160.
- ↑ Wiles 2012, p. 91.
- ↑ "Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974)". Newyorkerfilms.com. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
- ↑ "absolut MEDIEN - Out 1 − Noli me tangere". Absolutmedien.de. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
- Bibliography
- Wiles, Mary (2012). Jacques Rivette (Contemporary Film Directors). Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-07834-7.
External links
- Jacques Rivette filmography at the Internet Movie Database
- Jacques Rivette filmography at AlloCiné (French)
- Jacques Rivette filmography at AllMovie
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