The Jacques Rivette Collection

[Zot!]

I work in video store four years and no one ever ask for long frenchie movie, now Brit label comes in and suddenly people no want their Igor and the Blood Hounds Blu-rays but rather give money to actors pretending to be actors for twenty hours. But that's how others labels go now in this market, enjoy at the cost of small labels who no speak paris.

Where's that from?

Isn't this some fallout from some other code red controversy? I love that this release of all things is considered a threat to the industry somehow.

[cdnchris]

I work in video store four years and no one ever ask for long frenchie movie, now Brit label comes in and suddenly people no want their Igor and the Blood Hounds Blu-rays but rather give money to actors pretending to be actors for twenty hours. But that's how others labels go now in this market, enjoy at the cost of small labels who no speak paris.

I wish a spoke fluent paris so I could watch those films without subtitles. I also wish I could speak tokyo.

Isn't this some fallout from some other code red controversy? I love that this release of all things is considered a threat to the industry somehow.

Right? Like Code Red's entire fan base will stop buying his discs because this set exists. And I don't mean that in any derogatory manner like their general fan base wouldn't be interested in a set like this, because I'm sure a number would be, but how he manages to join the two things in his head is bizarre.

[domino harvey]

Okay, before this goes too far, I wrote that as a joke. I thought it was obvious but turns out I can speak Code Red Guy a little too well...

[Orlac]

Okay, before this goes too far, I wrote that as a joke. I thought it was obvious but turns out I can speak Code Red Guy a little too well...

You do indeed sir! I was about to go posting it on other forums as fact!

[cdnchris]

Bravo sir.

[EddieLarkin]

I didn't doubt it as genuine for even a second.

[domino harvey]

BRB going boating with Jude Law

[swo17]

Didn't the Code Red guy actually make a comment very similar to that about some Arrow release?

[Orlac]

He's an idiot.

[Ashirg]

Didn't the Code Red guy actually make a comment very similar to that about some Arrow release?

His comment was about The Happiness of the Katakuris -

you know it's soon time to pack your bags as kid running dvd/blu companies try to put you out of business and a new force in UK raised 130 grand to give you guys what you really want as many of you pre-paid to get the movie in your ultimate WANT LIST. THE HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS. Why even look into anymore movies. 130+ grand = this film you want so bad. I hope you enjoy this WANT LIST FAVORITE.

[neal]

Okay, before this goes too far, I wrote that as a joke. I thought it was obvious but turns out I can speak Code Red Guy a little too well...

That's hilarious. I guess the set-up might have been a little subtle unless you were really following that thread, but the impression was *too* good.

[Michael Kerpan]

In Ep. 7, during the conversation between Colin and Sarah, is some of the dialog run backwards? And isn't the beach house (in Normandy?) the Aubade and not Obade (as in the subs)?

[swo17]

To respond to your first question, yes, though that's kind of a spoiler because it's awesome.

[Michael Kerpan]

At first I just thought they were mumbling....

[Melan]

Long time lurker, first time poster, with two questions.

But first, praise - this set, assembled with a lot of care and effort, finally makes available some of Rivette's rare movies, and it is very much a wish come true. I would not have thought I would be able to get my hands on the elusive Out 1, which I have learned about through a love of Feuillade serials and Lang's Dr. Mabuse, or discovered a new favourite in the form of Duelle, whose obscurity is a mystery, as it is even more approachable than Celine and Julie. Thanks to everyone involved in making it happen, it has been a great accomplishment! Arrow is slowly growing into a second Masters of Cinema.

And the questions, both about Out 1 (what else?). While the only certain thing about the movie is uncertainty, and some of it is obviously not meant to make conventional sense, there are still two questions that leave me completely in the dark.

One,

The case of Colin's transformation.

Somewhere in the last episode, Colin undergoes a complete change from obsessed truth-seeker on the brink of starting to speak in tongues or grabbing a knife and going on a murder spree, to creepily well-adjusted (brainwashed?) model citizen renouncing the search for the Conspiracy. What happened here? Just one scene ago, he was playing with the new clues the monumentally scary Sarah gave him. The documentary mentions a scene about a nervous breakdown, but it is not actually in the movie! (Unless it is in Spectre and not Noli me tangere? I have not yet watched Spectre.)

Second,

The case of the final shot

So, Thomas goes through a hellish episode, then seems to recover and collect himself. The movie is all set to end, but it suddenly cuts to an out of context shot of Marie standing before a golden statue, but only for a brief instance before it cuts to the Credits. What is this supposed to mean? A review mentioned this was some kind of extra subversion of the entire plot, "an extraordinary throwaway that provoked spontaneous applause for being at once completely ordinary, totally unexpected, and positively diabolical in shifting the meaning of the entire previous 12 1/2 hours". How so? The only idea I could come up with is that it was Marie who handed the secret messages to Colin, and this shot may hint she is the leader of the Thirteen. But that doesn't seem very strong, or at all well-supported. If anything, she looks lost. Then what?

A fascinating movie in any case. Not sure I entirely like it or not, although it seems to be beyond concerns like trying to make you like it. But it is certainly a thing.

[Michael Kerpan]

I think Duelle looks quite good in this version. Certainly better than in the old French DVD version.

[Shrew]

On Colin:

Spoiler

As mentioned earlier in this thread, the scene with Colin's breakdown from the last episode was cut by Rivette for the 1990 re-release. I'm not sure where it would have gone, but I assume it's between the early scenes of Leaud in his room and the scene where he's playing with the pendant (or maybe after?). For me, the key moment is the end of that pendant scene, where Leaud finally gives up trying to make it swing 13 times. I interpreted that as Colin snapping back from paranoia, and realizing he's been acting crazy, at which point he renounces the whole 13 and wants nothing more to do with it (like an artist moving on from a particular trying period of creation). I suppose you could see it as Colin getting hypnotized by the pendant, but given the information later revealed, I don't think Pierre/Sarah would bother with that.

The final shot.

Spoiler

Isn't this a repeated shot from the doomed search for Renaud, which is also one of the (if not the?) last times Marie is seen in the film? I felt like it was underlining the film's lack of resolution, with so many threads left untied, and some (like Marie) practically forgotten. The film is still searching for meaning and resolution even as it ends, and they may never be found.

Any different thoughts on the ending? It's obviously pretty open for debate.

[ermylaw]

Spoiler

I took the ending shot at what I thought was face value: They had called off the search for Renaud, but since the group has disintegrated, no one got around to telling Marie. So she was still trying to hunt him down.

Now that I write that, I suppose it could be analogical to the search for the Thirteen. Renaud is dead, so she will never be able to find him. Likewise, the Thirteen are no more (if they ever existed), so they can no longer be found either.

It is somewhat fitting that Marie is left to search on her own for Renaud since she is the one who put Colin onto his search for the Thirteen by passing him the letters.

I watched this film over the holiday weekend, and I loved it. I can't say with any particularity why I loved it or what I loved about it. But it was compulsively watchable. I watched 2 episodes Friday night, 4 episodes on Saturday, and 2 episodes on Sunday. Even though there were times during the viewing that I just wanted the rehearsal scene to end, when the episodes concluded, I couldn't wait to get back to these characters.

[zedz]

The final shot.

Spoiler

Isn't this a repeated shot from the doomed search for Renaud, which is also one of the (if not the?) last times Marie is seen in the film? I felt like it was underlining the film's lack of resolution, with so many threads left untied, and some (like Marie) practically forgotten. The film is still searching for meaning and resolution even as it ends, and they may never be found.

Any different thoughts on the ending? It's obviously pretty open for debate.

I agree with that reading of the ending. Marie is still engaged in the narrative: nobody's told her the movie's over. I think it also gives something of a sense that any one of the many characters in the film could have been a focal character, and we would have experienced this prismatic film from a different angle if, say, Colin had been peripheral and somebody else had taken his place.

[Michael Kerpan]

Spoiler

Spoiler

Renaud is dead

Did I blink inopportunely? Last time I saw Renaud was when he left after discovering he had killed Frederique.

Mysterious to me. Why was Frederique's antique weapon loaded? It would appear she may have been planning to shoot Renaud

[ermylaw]

^ You're right. I'm wrong.

[Petty Bourgeoisie]

Spoiler

Renauld was definitely alive last I saw him. Did anybody else get the sense Renauld and "The Devourers" were about to ambush Pauline as she returned to Paris in order to (possibly) see Igor. It was like she was being lured back and and Thomas sensed it and became distraught about it. Thus, the breakdown on the beach.

[Michael Kerpan]

Having revisited Noroit for the first time in a long while...

Well, the scenery and music were good, at least. Not a film I'm too likely to ever revisit again, I fear.

[Noiretirc]

There are powerful scenes in Out 1 / Noli Me Tangere (ie That Sarah and Colin discussion, as well as the Emilie and Sarah Q+A) which are completely missing in Spectre, and at first I was rather annoyed by this. But upon further reflection, Spectre is so much more than a rearranged / shortened Out 1. The scene which ends Spectre seemed minor in Out 1 / Noli Me Tangere. In Spectre the same scene takes on a whole new dimension of hopelessness and resignation.

I do think Spectre is always going to be overshadowed by Out 1 / Noli Me Tangere, which is a shame. I was completely blown away by the meticulous work that had been done with the source material to create what is so much more than Son Of Out 1.

Did Spectre register any kind of pulse in theatres upon release?

[spectre]

Having revisited Noroit for the first time in a long while...

Well, the scenery and music were good, at least. Not a film I'm too likely to ever revisit again, I fear.

I agree. I stayed with it for most of the film, but by the end my patience was dwindling rapidly. It just seemed like a bit of a mess, to be honest – little of the rigour of Rivette's earlier works or even '80s films like Love on the Ground or Gang of Four.

I'm interested to revisit Duelle to see how that one stands up. I still really like Merry-Go-Round.