Directed by Jacques Rivette • 1974 • France
Starring Juliet Berto, Dominique Labourier, Bulle Ogier
Whiling away a summer in Paris, director Jacques Rivette, working in close collaboration with his stars and coconspirators Juliet Berto and Dominique Labourier, set out to rewrite the rules of cinema in the spirit of pure play—moviemaking as an anything-goes romp through the labyrinths of imagination. The result is one of the most exuberantly inventive and utterly enchanting films of the French New Wave, in which Julie (Labourier), a daydreaming librarian, meets Céline (Berto), an enigmatic magician, and together they become the heroines of a time-warping adventure involving a haunted house, psychotropic candy, and a murder-mystery melodrama. Incorporating allusions to everything from Lewis Carroll to Louis Feuillade, CÉLINE AND JULIE GO BOATING is both one of the all-time-great hangout comedies and a totally unique, enveloping cinematic dream space that delights in the endless pleasures and possibilities of stories.
Recorded in 2017, this commentary features film scholar Adrian Martin.
Clair Denis made this portrait of Jacques Rivette, in which Rivette is interviewed on the streets of Paris by film critic Serge Daney, in two parts. In the first, LE JOUR, filmed during the day, Rivette discusses the history of the French New Wave. Both parts were originally broadcast on French t...
Clair Denis made this portrait of Jacques Rivette, in which Rivette is interviewed on the streets of Paris by film critic Serge Daney, in two parts. In the second part, nighttime sequence, LA NUIT, Rivette discusses his own films. Both parts were originally broadcast on French television on Febru...
