The story takes place in Paris from June 1957, it is a very gloomy period of the history of France: there is a deep political and economic instability as well as a climate of general tension for the Cold War (France was losing the french colonies in Africa, claimed by the natives).
Synopsis:
Anne is a young, curious and innocent student. A neighbour of the room is in a frenzy, stating that his brother Juan (refugee from the regime of Franco) was killed and now they are all doomed. Later, through her brother Pierre, the girl makes the acquaintance of a group of his friends. Juan's suicide is a hot topic and considered controversial by the members of the group, whose peculiarity is being politically skeptical, having revolutionary ideologies. Among them, there's the responsible for a theatrical mise en scéne of the Shakespearean drama Pericles, as well as Philip, an American refugee from McCarthyism with paranoid conspiracy theories. He slaps Terry, femme fatale and former lover of Juan, currently in a relationship with Gerard and blaming him for causing or induced Juan's death. Anne begins to establish confidence with Philip and coincidentally takes part in Gerard's recital by replacing the previously designated actress. So Anne, because of her own curiosity and thrust by Philip's speeches inherent suspected conspiracies, begins to investigate to resolve the problem, which changes during the course of history and is never exactly identified. In addition, even the clues and the same investigations of Anne prove unnecessary because they do not lead, in the end, to the solution of the mystery (s). Looking for a recording, the girl comes across a doctor named De Georges, connected, according to Philip, to a secret organization struggling for power. Worried about Gerard's safety, the girl is more and more involved in the business around him and the suicide of Juan by focusing his suspicions on Terry. Later, Gerard, given up by Terry and after having been refused by Anne, commits suicide. Eventually, after the death of Pierre (probably killed by Terry), Anne comes out more confused than before, while Terry and Philip go away together.
Comment:
The film opens with a sentence written by Peguy: "Paris n'appartient à personne", witnessing the reception of the city and its cosmopolitan being. The opposite word game of the title mirrors the revolutionary circle that is created around the characters, even if their actions do not often lead to a continuation of the plot or a clarification of the events, deliberately concealed behind a network of small details, basically unnecessary. It is therefore a plot similar to the mystery or detective genre (although at times romantic, thriller and drama) but differs considerably from the canons that characterize the genre, also because it is only deluded to the spectator the possibility of interacting as a detective, like the illusion chased by Anne. Rivette exhibits the elusiveness of reality through these McGuffin, making the film volatile and playing with the spectator; actions often take a short time while unnecessary dialogues and acts are dilated at length (varying the speed of the detach between sequences). A film that can irritate in its subversion: as a revolutionary rebellion, it imposes a careful vision, but not an analysis regulated by specific narrative parameters. At times cryptically dreamlike, an aura of mystery, a sort of anarchist esotericism, constitutes a veritable manifesto of the Nouvelle Vague. Less romantic but similar in concept to "L'Amour fou", it is a very thoughtful film, especially at political and existential level: Probably Rivette's masterpiece, it exhibits in a refined way its idea of elusiveness, really hard to decipher. A conceptually violent and subversive work from the title; ironic that being invisible to the "main public" at the same time supports and, in a certain way, confirms, the deepest cinematographic essence.
Synopsis:
Anne is a young, curious and innocent student. A neighbour of the room is in a frenzy, stating that his brother Juan (refugee from the regime of Franco) was killed and now they are all doomed. Later, through her brother Pierre, the girl makes the acquaintance of a group of his friends. Juan's suicide is a hot topic and considered controversial by the members of the group, whose peculiarity is being politically skeptical, having revolutionary ideologies. Among them, there's the responsible for a theatrical mise en scéne of the Shakespearean drama Pericles, as well as Philip, an American refugee from McCarthyism with paranoid conspiracy theories. He slaps Terry, femme fatale and former lover of Juan, currently in a relationship with Gerard and blaming him for causing or induced Juan's death. Anne begins to establish confidence with Philip and coincidentally takes part in Gerard's recital by replacing the previously designated actress. So Anne, because of her own curiosity and thrust by Philip's speeches inherent suspected conspiracies, begins to investigate to resolve the problem, which changes during the course of history and is never exactly identified. In addition, even the clues and the same investigations of Anne prove unnecessary because they do not lead, in the end, to the solution of the mystery (s). Looking for a recording, the girl comes across a doctor named De Georges, connected, according to Philip, to a secret organization struggling for power. Worried about Gerard's safety, the girl is more and more involved in the business around him and the suicide of Juan by focusing his suspicions on Terry. Later, Gerard, given up by Terry and after having been refused by Anne, commits suicide. Eventually, after the death of Pierre (probably killed by Terry), Anne comes out more confused than before, while Terry and Philip go away together.
Comment:
The film opens with a sentence written by Peguy: "Paris n'appartient à personne", witnessing the reception of the city and its cosmopolitan being. The opposite word game of the title mirrors the revolutionary circle that is created around the characters, even if their actions do not often lead to a continuation of the plot or a clarification of the events, deliberately concealed behind a network of small details, basically unnecessary. It is therefore a plot similar to the mystery or detective genre (although at times romantic, thriller and drama) but differs considerably from the canons that characterize the genre, also because it is only deluded to the spectator the possibility of interacting as a detective, like the illusion chased by Anne. Rivette exhibits the elusiveness of reality through these McGuffin, making the film volatile and playing with the spectator; actions often take a short time while unnecessary dialogues and acts are dilated at length (varying the speed of the detach between sequences). A film that can irritate in its subversion: as a revolutionary rebellion, it imposes a careful vision, but not an analysis regulated by specific narrative parameters. At times cryptically dreamlike, an aura of mystery, a sort of anarchist esotericism, constitutes a veritable manifesto of the Nouvelle Vague. Less romantic but similar in concept to "L'Amour fou", it is a very thoughtful film, especially at political and existential level: Probably Rivette's masterpiece, it exhibits in a refined way its idea of elusiveness, really hard to decipher. A conceptually violent and subversive work from the title; ironic that being invisible to the "main public" at the same time supports and, in a certain way, confirms, the deepest cinematographic essence.