Rivette, Jacques

(1928- )

   Director, critic, and screenwriter. Before becoming a member of French cinema's famous Nouvelle Vague or New Wave, Jacques Rivette assisted other greats of the cinema, particularly Jean Renoir and Jacques Becker. He wrote the short films Aux quatre coins (1949), Le quadrille (1950), and Le divertissement (1952) and contributed to Gazette du cinéma before moving to Cahiers du cinéma. He took over the editorship of Cahiers du Cinéma from Éric Rohmer from 1963 to 1965.

   Rivette began directing during the 1950s. His first short, Le coup du berger (1956), was produced by fellow New Wave director Claude Chabrol, who allowed Rivette to use his apartment as a setting. Rivette began filming his first feature-length film, Paris nous appartient, in 1959, although it took him two years to make it because of funding issues so the film was not released until after Chabrol's Le beau Serge (1959), Truffaut's Les Quatre cents coups (1959), or several other New Wave films. The film is the story of a group of actors trying to stage a Shakespearian play. It captures Parisian street life in a way that is reminiscent of Louis Feuillade and Le Réalisme poétique or poetic realism, and it is decidedly modern in its themes of alienation and disconnection. Rivette's work was admired by François Truffaut who gave a silent nod to Rivette in his film Les Quatre cents coups (1959). When the protagonist of Truffaut's film, Antoine Doinel, goes to the movies with his parents in Truffaut's film, it is Rivette's Paris nous appartient that is playing. The film was still in production at the time.

   Rivette's second film was La religieuse (1967), based on the novel by Denis Diderot. The story of an aristocratic woman forced into the church against her will, the film was censored for its depiction of the church and of oppressive institutions in general. His third feature, L'amour fou (1969), returned to the play within the film structure of his first film and centers on the production of Racine's Andromaque. It was followed by Out one: noli me tangere (1971), based on a work by Honoré de Balzac. The original version of the film runs over twelve hours; however, it was cut and edited down to 255 minutes and released as Out one: spectre (1974). It features several New Wave icons, including the critic and director Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, the actor Jean-Pierre Léaud, the director Éric Rohmer, and the producer/actor Barbet Schroeder. This film also features themes of alienation and is centered around a story within a story.

   Rivette's next film, Céline et Julie vont en bateau (1974), offers perhaps the most mature interrogation of storytelling and relationship between narrative and reality. The film is the story of two women who enter a house where the same narrative repeats over and over. It centers on the ultimately successful, although trying, efforts of the two women to change the course of the narrative. The film received wide critical acclaim and is noteworthy because Rivette gave scriptwriting and script-altering power to the actresses in the film, Juilet Berto, Dominque Labourier, Bulle Ogier, and Marie-France Pisier, an act which replicates the function they perform within the film. Rivette's subsequent films were Noroît (1975), Duelle (1976), Le pont du Nord (1982), Merry-go-round (1983), L'amour par terre (1984), Hurlevent (1985), and La bande des quatre (1989).

   Rivette's first film of the 1990s, La belle noiseuse (1991), won the Grand Prize of the Jury at Cannes and was nominated for a Golden Palm and a César for Best Film. Still concerned with representation, this film moves away from storytelling to painting. It is the story of an artist who has lost his muse only to rediscover her in a young model, much to the chagrin of his wife. The film stars Emmanuel Béart, Michel Piccoli, and Jane Birkin. Rivette's next film was the two-part narrative about Joan of Arc, Jean la pucelle (1994), and it was followed by Haut bas fragile (1995), Secret défense (1998), Va savoir (2001), and Histoire de Marie et Julien (2003).

   Historical Dictionary of French Cinema by Dayna Oscherwitz & Mary Ellen Higgins