Review of Céline and Julie Go Boating (1974) by Aaron K — 19 Jan 2009

Now this is a film that manages to achieve the rarest of all cinematic endeavors; it lives beyond its running time. The magic of Rivette is that he walks the tightrope of giving the audience enough content to get their bearings while continuously introducing almost immaterial pointers to color the content (which may or may not turn out to be true, most of the viewer's questions go unanswered, which is good) and keep the audience in a state of always questioning what is being shown to them.

Add to that the dichotomy of using realistic (seemingly improvised, though we know they are not) performances to create fantastical situations. Rivette is a true original.