Jacques Rivette facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jacques Rivette
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Rivette in 2006
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| Born |
Jacques Pierre Louis Rivette
1 March 1928 Rouen, France
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| Died | 29 January 2016 (aged 87) Paris, France
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| Occupation | Film director, film critic, theatrical director |
| Years active | 1948–2009 |
| Known for | L'amour fou Out 1 Celine and Julie Go Boating Le Pont du Nord La Belle Noiseuse |
| Movement | French New Wave |
| Spouse(s) | Marilù Parolini (divorced) Véronique Manniez-Rivette (his death) |
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Jacques Rivette (born March 1, 1928 – died January 29, 2016) was a famous French film director and film critic. He is best known for being part of the French New Wave film movement. This was a new way of making movies in France. Rivette made many films, like Celine and Julie Go Boating. His movies often used actors making things up. They also had stories that were not always clear. And they were often very long!
Rivette was inspired by writer Jean Cocteau to become a filmmaker. He made his first short film when he was 20. He then moved to Paris to work on his film career. There, he met other future New Wave filmmakers. These included François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, and Claude Chabrol. Rivette also started writing about films. He joined the important film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma in 1953. He admired American films and was critical of many French movies. His writings were well-respected by his friends. He also made more short films. One of them, Le Coup de Berger, is often called the first New Wave film.
Rivette was actually the first New Wave director to start making a full-length movie. But his film, Paris Belongs to Us, was not released until 1961. By then, other directors had already released their first movies. Rivette became the editor of Cahiers du Cinéma in the early 1960s. He fought against French censorship of his film The Nun (1966). After this, he changed his filmmaking style. He started to use more improvisation and let stories unfold naturally. This led to his very long film Out 1, which is over 12 hours long! His films in the 1970s, like Celine and Julie Go Boating, often included fantasy. After trying to make four films at once, Rivette became very ill. His career slowed down for a few years.
In the early 1980s, he started working with producer Martine Marignac. She produced all his later films. Rivette then made more movies. His film La Belle Noiseuse received international praise. He stopped making films after Around a Small Mountain (2009). Three years later, it was announced that he had Alzheimer's disease. Rivette was a very private person. He was married to photographer Marilù Parolini for a short time. Later, he married Véronique Manniez.
Contents
Early Life and Start in Film (1928–1956)
Growing Up in Rouen and Moving to Paris
Jacques Pierre Louis Rivette was born in Rouen, France, in 1928. His family were pharmacists. His father was a good painter who loved opera. Rivette's younger sister remembered watching cartoons with him next to their home. Rivette studied literature for a short time at university. He was inspired by Jean Cocteau's book about making the film Beauty and the Beast. Rivette then decided he wanted to make movies. He started going to film clubs. In 1948, he made his first short film, Aux Quatre Coins, in Rouen.
The next year, he moved to Paris. He felt it was the only place to make films. On his first day, he met Jean Gruault, who would become a friend. Rivette applied to a film school but was not accepted. Instead, he spent his time at the Henri Langlois's Cinémathèque Française. This was a famous place to watch movies. There, Rivette and his friends watched many old films. They saw movies from the silent era and early "talkies." This group of young film lovers became friends. They often sat in the front row for screenings. Rivette met François Truffaut at a screening. He also sat next to Jean-Luc Godard for months before they spoke. Rivette was very active in film discussions. He was known for being unbeatable in film quizzes.
Becoming a Film Critic and Making Short Films
Rivette and his friends also went to film clubs run by Éric Rohmer. Rivette began writing about films in 1950. He wrote for a magazine called Gazette du Cinéma. But the magazine stopped publishing after only five issues. Rivette said he never planned to be a critic, but it was "a good exercise." That same year, he made his second short film, Le Quadrille. Jean-Luc Godard produced and starred in it. Rivette described it as a film where "absolutely nothing happens." It showed "four people sitting around a table, looking at each other."
In 1951, André Bazin started a new film magazine called Cahiers du Cinéma. He hired many of Rivette's friends. Rivette started writing for the magazine in 1953. He supported Hollywood directors like Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock. He was very critical of mainstream French films. He felt they were afraid to take risks. In 1954, Rivette and Truffaut started interviewing film directors they admired. These interviews were very important for film criticism. They published long, detailed interviews with famous directors. These included Jacques Becker, Alfred Hitchcock, and Orson Welles.
Rivette kept making films while writing. In 1952, he made his third short film, Le Divertissement. He also worked as an assistant for famous directors like Jacques Becker. He was a cameraman on Truffaut's short film Une Visite (1954). Rivette wanted to make a full-length movie. With help from Claude Chabrol, he made the short film Le Coup du Berger (1956). The film is about a young woman who hides a mink coat from her husband. Truffaut later said this film inspired him and his friends to make their own first movies.
Making Feature Films and the French New Wave (1957–1972)
Paris Belongs to Us and the New Wave Movement
In 1957, Italian director Roberto Rossellini wanted to produce films about life in France. Rivette and his friend Jean Gruault wrote a script called La Cité. Rossellini gave them some money for it. But he then left to make his own film in India. Rivette and Gruault rewrote their story. It became Paris Belongs to Us. The title was a play on a famous quote.
Rivette shot the film in the summer of 1958. He used borrowed equipment and leftover film reels. He struggled to finish the movie and find people to distribute it. In Paris Belongs to Us, a young student named Anne deals with strange events. These include sudden deaths and a secret society. Other New Wave directors like Chabrol and Godard appeared in small roles.
Other New Wave films like Le Beau Serge and The 400 Blows were very successful. Truffaut and Chabrol used their fame to help Rivette finish his film. Truffaut helped Rivette premiere Paris Belongs to Us in 1961. Reviews for the film were mixed. But it was praised by some critics. Rivette later called it "the film of a sixteen-year-old child." He won an award called the Sutherland Trophy for best first film.
Even though Rivette started his film first, other directors released their movies before him. This helped make the French New Wave famous worldwide. Rivette compared the New Wave to impressionist painting. He said new technology helped filmmakers shoot movies in the streets.
Finding His Style with L'amour fou and Out 1
In 1968, there were big protests in France. Rivette and his friends fought to get Henri Langlois back as head of the Cinémathèque Francaise. Langlois had been removed by the government. Rivette spoke at press conferences and joined protests. Their efforts worked, and Langlois was put back in charge. These protests also led to calls for more freedom in the film industry. Rivette helped stop the 1968 Cannes Film Festival in solidarity with the protests.
Rivette's next film was L'amour fou (1969). He wanted to create a film with a lot of improvisation. He did not use a script or a shot list. He just experimented with actors and situations. He filmed it in five weeks on a small budget. The film shows a theater group rehearsing a play. It also shows a TV crew filming them. And it tells the story of the director and his wife. The film ends with a long argument where the couple destroys their apartment. The film was 252 minutes long and received good reviews. L'amour fou earned Rivette another Sutherland Trophy.
Rivette found his unique style while making this film. He felt that with improvisation, you have to listen carefully to everything. He invited over 40 actors to develop characters for a new film. There was no plot at first. This became Out 1 (1971). From April to June 1970, Rivette shot over 30 hours of film. The actors improvised a story about conspiracy theories and theater rehearsals.
Out 1 starred Jean-Pierre Leaud as Colin. He was a con artist who pretended to be deaf. He started getting mysterious messages. He believed a secret society was contacting him. He met a young thief named Frederique. They used stolen letters to track down what they thought was the secret group. The film was shown only once in its full 760-minute version. This was in Le Havre in 1971. It was meant to be a TV show, but the TV company refused to buy it. Rivette then edited a shorter, 260-minute version called Out 1: Spectre. This was released in 1974. Out 1 became a cult film. It was very hard to see the full version. Critics called it a "Holy Grail" for film lovers.
Fantasy Films and Later Career (1973–2009)
Exploring Fantasy and Facing Challenges
In 1973, Rivette tried to make a film called Phénix. It was about the theater world in early 1900s Paris. But he had to stop because of money problems. Rivette then made his most famous film, Céline and Julie Go Boating (1974). The title means "caught up in fiction" in French slang. Rivette worked with actresses Juliet Berto and Dominique Labourier to create the characters and story. Unlike his previous films, he did not use improvisation for this one.
The film is full of references to Alice in Wonderland. It starts when Julie and Céline meet by chance and become friends. They visit a mysterious "House of Fiction." There, the same drama plays out every day. The film was shot in five weeks in 1973. Céline and Julie Go Boating won an award at the Locarno International Film Festival.
Rivette then planned a series of four films. Each film would have two female main characters. The series would explore different genres like love stories, fantasy, adventure, and musical comedy. He wanted to create a new way of acting for these films. The films would also reflect the political situation in France.
He filmed Duelle (Une quarantaine) (1976) and Noroît (Une vengeance) (1976). Duelle is about two queens fighting over a magic diamond. Noroît is about a pirate seeking revenge. In August 1975, Rivette started filming the first part of the series. But after three days, he became very ill from stress. Production of the series was stopped. Rivette later said he "overestimated my own strength." Noroît was shown at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival but was never widely released.
It took Rivette over a year to recover. He then made an unrelated film, Merry-Go-Round (1981). It was a detective story about a missing sister. Rivette used improvisation, but filming was difficult. He and the main actress were both ill. The film was released in 1981 and received mixed reviews.
In 1980, Rivette decided to remake Out 1. He worked with actress Bulle Ogier and her daughter Pascale Ogier. They made a short film called Paris s'en va (1980). This was a sketch for the feature film Le Pont du Nord (1982). Le Pont du Nord starred Bulle and Pascale Ogier. They played two women who meet and investigate a strange map of Paris. Rivette had trouble finding money for this film. He made Bulle Ogier's character claustrophobic. This was because he could not afford many indoor scenes.
Working with Martine Marignac and International Success
Rivette's money problems led him to work with producer Martine Marignac. Her company produced all his later films. Their first film together was Love on the Ground (1984). It was about a theater group and how fiction and reality can mix.
Rivette then made a film based on Emily Brontë's book Wuthering Heights. It was called Hurlevent (1985). It was set in 1930s southern France. Rivette used unknown actors for this film.
He received great praise for his 1988 film La Bande des quatre (Gang of Four). It was about four drama students whose lives mix with their theater work. Rivette wanted to show how interesting the work of making a play is. The film won an award at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival.
Rivette enjoyed working with the four young actresses in La Bande des quatre. He decided to return to the theater with them. They rehearsed plays by famous French writers. Rivette felt that the work was "very deep."
The success of La Bande des quatre led to La Belle Noiseuse (The Beautiful Troublemaker) (1991). This became the most acclaimed film of Rivette's later career. It was loosely based on a short story by Honoré de Balzac. The film shows the relationship between an old painter, his wife, and his new model. The model inspires the painter to finish his long-abandoned masterpiece. The four-hour film shows the painting being made in real time. Rivette won the Grand Prix at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival for this film. It also received five César Award nominations. A shorter, two-hour version was also released.
Later Films and Retirement
Rivette then made a two-part film about Joan of Arc. It was called Joan the Maiden (1994). Rivette's film focused on Joan's popularity in France. It was different from other films that showed her suffering. The film starred Sandrine Bonnaire.
Joan the Maiden had a large budget and was not a financial success. So, Martine Marignac wanted to make a quick, cheap film. Rivette got ideas from actresses Nathalie Richard, Marianne Denicourt, and Laurence Côte. This led to Up, Down, Fragile (1995). It was about three women trying to overcome personal problems. The film included musical numbers at a mysterious nightclub. These songs commented on the women's lives.
Rivette's crime film, Top Secret (1998), starred Sandrine Bonnaire. She played a young scientist whose brother convinces her that their father was killed. The film was loosely based on the ancient Greek myth of Electra. It also paid tribute to classic Hollywood films.
Va savoir (2001) starred Jeanne Balibar and Sergio Castellitto. They played a couple in a romantic comedy. They try to stage a play and search for a missing manuscript. Rivette paid tribute to old Hollywood screwball comedies. A longer version, Va Savoir+, was released the next year.
In 2002, Rivette published a book of scripts from three of his unmade films. One of these was Marie et Julien. The footage from the original filming had been lost. Rivette worked from old notes to create a readable script. This led him to make the film The Story of Marie and Julien (2003). He cast Emmanuelle Béart and Jerzy Radziwilowicz in the main roles.
In 2007, Rivette made The Duchess of Langeais. This was a faithful adaptation of a novel by Honoré de Balzac. It starred Jeanne Balibar and Guillaume Depardieu as lovers in 1823. Their relationship was very difficult. The film premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. In 2009, Rivette made 36 vues du pic Saint-Loup. Jane Birkin starred as a woman who returns to her childhood circus. She starts a romance with a wealthy Italian man. This was Rivette's last film.
Personal Life
Rivette was known for living simply when he was young. His friends said he was very thin and hardly ate. His opinions were highly valued by his peers. Jean-Luc Godard said that if Rivette disliked a film, he would agree. Truffaut considered Rivette his best friend.
Rivette was very private about his life. Actress Bulle Ogier said she only saw him when they were filming. She felt he was very secretive. Another friend said it was hard to join Rivette's close circle. Producer Martine Marignac said Rivette was modest and shy. She also said he spent his life watching movies, reading, and listening to music.
In 1960, Rivette appeared briefly in a documentary with his girlfriend, Marilù Parolini. She was a secretary at Cahiers du Cinéma. She later became a photographer on film sets. She and Rivette got married but later divorced. They continued to work together on films. Parolini died in 2012.
In 2012, it was revealed that Rivette had Alzheimer's disease. Friends said he started feeling the effects while filming 36 vues du pic Saint-Loup. He often lost track of what had been filmed. In the mid-2000s, Rivette met his second wife, Véronique Manniez. They married after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. She helped him stay at home for the last eight years of his life.
Death
Jacques Rivette died on January 29, 2016, at age 87. He died from complications of Alzheimer's disease in his Paris home. The President of France, François Hollande, called him "one of the greatest filmmakers." Many people in the French film industry praised him. Serge Toubiana said Rivette was "the most reflective, thoughtful, the most intellectual figure of the New Wave."
Martin Scorsese called him a fascinating artist. He said Rivette was "the most experimental of the French New Wave directors." Film critic Richard Brody called Rivette "the most open and the most reticent of French filmmakers." He said Rivette's films tried to capture his inner world. Brody also praised Rivette's influence on film criticism. He mentioned Rivette's 1961 article "On Abjection." This article was about a film on the Holocaust. It became a very important text for discussing films about terrible events.
Rivette was buried on February 5, 2016, in the Montmartre Cemetery in Paris. This was not far from François Truffaut's grave. His wife and friends spoke at the funeral. The March 2016 issue of Cahiers du Cinéma was dedicated to him. In May 2016, it was announced that Rivette's first three short films had been found by his widow. They were restored and then shown at a film festival.
Works
- Jacques Rivette filmography
- Jacques Rivette bibliography
- Themes and style in the works of Jacques Rivette
See also
In Spanish: Jacques Rivette para niños
