Jacques Rivette facts for kids

Jacques Rivette
Jacques Rivette
	Rivette in 2006
Born	Jacques Pierre Louis Rivette ; 1 March 1928; Rouen, France
Died	29 January 2016 (aged 87); Paris, France
Cause of death	Alzheimer's disease
Nationality	French
Occupation	Film director, film critic, theatrical director
Years active	1948–2009
Movement	French New Wave
Spouse(s)	Marilù Parolini (divorced); Véronique Manniez-Rivette (his death)
Awards	Sutherland Trophy; Grand Prix; Prix Méliès;

Jacques Rivette (1 March 1928 – 29 January 2016) was a French movie director, screenwriter and movie critic. He is considered to be the most experimental of the French New Wave directors, he had a background in film criticism, but he also loved popular American cinema.

Rivette's stories progress in unconventional ways - often following multiple plot lines that can be romantic, mysterious, and comic all at once and employing extensive improvisation. As a result, his films are often extremely long (the infamous Out 1 clocked in at 13 hrs, although a 4½ hour cut was later produced) and many of them are rarely seen, he shot his first short film at age twenty.

Out 1 was shown only once in its 760-minute original version, on 9–10 September 1971. Over 300 people attended the weekend-long premiere, it was called called it a "voyage beyond cinema" because most of the audience had traveled from Paris to see it. Originally intended as a 12-part television broadcast, the television franchise refused to purchase it.

With help, Rivette spent over a year editing a 260-minute version entitled Out 1: Spectre and released in 1974. Out 1 was highly praised, and become a cult film. The first revival screening of the original version was at the Rotterdam Film Festival in February 1989. It was finally shown on French TV during the early 1990s and was first shown in the US at the Museum of the Moving Image in December 2006 to a sold-out audience.

Céline et Julie vont en bateau (Céline and Julie Go Boating / Céline and Julie Lose Their Minds) is perhaps Rivette's most famous and best loved work. His other important films include Out 1, L'Amour fou, Paris nous appartient, and La Belle noiseuse.

Rivette died on 29 January 2016 from complications of Alzheimer's disease at the age of 87, in his home in Paris. He was memorialised by President Francois Hollande as "one of the greatest filmmakers". Rivette was buried on 5 February 2016 in the Montmartre Cemetery in Paris.

Images for kids

François Truffaut outside a theater showing Claude Chabrol's Le Beau Serge, considered the first film of the French New Wave. Truffaut was one of Rivette's best friends, and he and Chabrol helped finance Paris Belongs to Us.
Rivette cast Jean-Luc Godard's wife, Anna Karina, in The Nun and directed a theatrical version with Karina
Political poster for the Etats généraux du cinéma francais from May 68; Rivette took an active role in the protests, which influenced several of his films
Juliet Berto (left) and Bulle Ogier (center) co-starred in Céline et Julie vont en bateau; Marie Dubois is on the right. Ogier appeared in seven of Rivette's films
Emmanuelle Béart and Michel Piccoli at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, where La Belle Noiseuse won two awards
Jane Birkin at the 66th Venice International Film Festival premiere of 36 Views from the Pic Saint-Loup in 2009. Birkin appeared in three of Rivette's films
Rivette during filming of The Duchess of Langeais in 2006