Paris Belongs to Us

There was a fascinating quote in a recent New York Times article on repertory filmgoing, courtesy Jacob Perlin, the artistic director of the city's newly-opened Metrograph Theatre. "If 40 years ago you had told United Artists, who were distributing Fran�ois Truffaut's films in the U.S., that at this point in time American cinephiles would be more interested in Jacques Rivette than in Truffaut," he explained, "they would have looked at you like you were crazy." That is indeed a rather astonishing development -- as recently as two years ago, you couldn't find a single film by Rivette (who's often cited as a central figure of the French New Wave) on home video in the United States. But his films have been rehabilitated in recent years: there have been restorations and rereleases of works like "Out 1," "Le Pont du Nord," and "Duelle," making Rivette's work more readily-available than ever before. And for those of you still wondering who Rivette is, the Criterion Collection can now provide their own answer: they recently released "Paris Belongs to Us," Rivette's first feature-length film, onto Blu-ray and DVD.

An opening quotation contradicts the very title -- "Paris belongs to no one," it says-which starts off the cinematic world of Jacques Rivette with a suitably beguiling note. Other Rivette trademarks, in both visuals and narrative, continue to proliferate: there are long takes that emphasize auditory improvisation and display physical movements within a group dynamic; there's a dedication to creating a documentary record of Parisian cityscapes in the background of compositions; there are elongated depictions of an experimental theatre troupe's rehersals; there's the suggestion of a shadow-society that looms over all the cultural activities being depicted. These are all features that would take greater shape in Rivette's follow-up works, among them "Celine and Julie Go Boating" and "Out 1." But you see them develop throughout this debut work, until they define and dominate all that surrounds them. This is the source -- you can see Rivette's obsessions as they sprout.

The play is Shakespeare's "Pericles," and the troupe recently lost a member. The much-beloved Juan has committed suicide at the movie's dawn, sparking rampant rumors among the other actors about a conspiracy that might've caused it. That's enough to draw in Anne (Betty Schneider,) an observer who becomes an actress once she's energized by the shrouded details of the central mystery. She joins the troupe, on stage and otherwise, though the murmurs she hears about Juan's demise only serve to complicate the facts she once thought she knew. What follows is a mystery in the mode of Pynchon: the more that Anne unfurls, the more bunched-up the strands become, until each questionable assumption is criss-crossed with every other, and sociopolitical paranoia has taken full hold.

Criterion's Blu-ray release of Rivette's first feature functions has an expansive introduction to that filmmaker's world; the few extra features are designed to familiarize viewers with his thematic preoccupations and artistic interests. A booklet featuring a critical essay (by Luc Santle) works to illuminate the connection between "Paris" and Rivette's later works, while a filmed interview feature (with film scholar Richard Neupert) provides background on Rivette's work as a film critic, and details on the works that inspired him most as a younger man. The final extra feature is the most notable cinematic work that Rivette directed prior to "Paris Belongs to Us" -- "Le Coup du Berger," a 28-minute short film that he directed in 1956.

The short considers a married woman (Virginie Vitry) who accepts a mink coat from her unmarried lover (Jean-Claude Brialy,) forcing her to devise an explanation for its existence that will satisfy her husband (Jacques Doniol-Valcroze.) In its halfway-Hitchcockian shape -- the film places the atmosphere of a noir-thriller on top of a densely-drawn interpersonal relationship -- the film suggests the voice of its screenwriter, Claude Chabrol, another noted filmmaker who worked within the French New Wave. And other names from that iconic era of French filmmaking abound, on-screen and in the crew: Truffaut, Godard, Jean-Marie Straub, and so on. If "Paris" showed where Rivette was going, then "Le Coup du Berger" reveals where he came from. And as for Criterion's dedication to his canon? Let's hope this first release is only the start.

"Paris Belongs to Us"
Blu-ray
Criterion.com
$39.95