nwFilmCenter

March/April 2007

Thu, Mar 8, 2007 - Sun, Apr 29, 2007

One of the great directors to emerge during the French New Wave, Jacques Rivette's films have remained largely unseen by American audiences. One of the quintent of famed "Cahiers du Cinéma" critics-turned-filmmakers (which also include Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Eric Rohmer and Claude Chabrol), Rivette has focused on women-not just on female protagonists, but on the lives of women removed from men-At the same time exploring themes of theatricality, performance, the cinematic process, illusion and reality. his playful, cerebral and sometimes extended ruminations have always pushed the boundaries of conventional art house cinema and thus, despite critical accolades, eluded the wider commercial distribution of his contemporaries.

Perhaps best known in the U.S. for his 'Alice in Wonderland' styled fable CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING (1974), in which a magic sweet takes two protagonists (Dominique Labourier and Juliet Berto) to the heart of a strange drama, Rivette, now 78, has said "I like film to be an adventure for those who make it and for those who see it." In works that range from THE NUN (1965), which chronicles the life of Suzanne Simonin (Anna Karina), a 17th century woman forced by her parents to enter a convent; JOAN THE MAID (1994) in which Sandrine Bonnaire gives an achingly complex performance as Joan of Arc, to SECRET DEFENSE (1998), a contemporary revenge murder-thriller also starring Sandrine Bonnaire, to his Cannes prize winning LA BELLE NOISEUSE (1991), an incisive exploration of the artistic process adapted from Honoré de Balzac's novella "The Unknown Masterpiece," Rivette has shown a remarkable ability across the decades to reinvent himself, even as his films remain unmistakably his own.

This retrospective was organized and made possible with the assistance of David Schwartz and Livia Bloom of the Museum of the Moving Image, New York; the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, New York; the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Paris and the National Film Theatre, London.

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Special Screenings

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Film Noir

How did they get so bad? Some have secrets, some want revenge and some are just damn tired of their husbands. If pulling the trigger is unladylike, getting some sucker to do the deed is no problem. The vintage femme fatales in these classics from the golden age of noir - indelible in their 35mm glory-will take you back to nights of dark intrigue and cold bargains by women who mean business.

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