Jacques Rivette goes down the rabbit hole in this delightfully improvised experiment about two women who find themselves interacting with another narrative.
Great discussion. I didn’t get to see this until it magically appeared on the Criterion Channel in 2020, but it thoroughly hooked me.
Your mention of SHERLOCK JR. reminded me of one of the details I noticed when I watched this: the STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. poster in Céline’s dressing room. One way or the other, Buster Keaton was on Rivette’s mind when he was making this.
Aside from Mulholland Drive, are there other films that use the narrative device of the characters infiltrating another piece of art? I kept coming back to this idea of the movie wearing another movie like a cheap Halloween mask. It seems like such a durable structure for subverting another narrative that I’m surprised it’s not more common.
May December does this a bit — the movie inhabits the Laterno narrative in order to turn it inside out.
I saw a screening of this a few weeks ago, and the shot of the Madlyne’s former caretakers pursuing them in the boat absolutely broke the theater. It’s such a strange, disquieting, hysterically funny punchline that somehow makes perfect sense.
I'll mull over your first question a bit more—there's Sherlock Jr./The Purple Rose of Cairo, maybe Pleasantville, The Last Action Hero... I dunno—but I want to say that I love the audience reacting that way to the boating scene. I did suspect that the film might be a bit of a crowd-pleaser and this seems to confirm that.
Thank you! I need to watch Last Action Hero at some point.
It was a lovely screening, and most of the humor really landed. Although a guy in my row spent the first 20 minutes howling at the film, then proceeded to take a very restful nap for the rest, occasionally waking to resume cackling at one scene or another. It was more amusing than disruptive.
I hate to bring it up because I don’t like the film, but there’s a scene in READY PLAYER ONE where the characters enter and interact with Kubrick’s adaptation of THE SHINING.
Great piece! This was super fun to read. I didn’t know much about this film and watched it last fall because it was on the S&S list, and it blew me away. Exactly because it’s so playful and fun, but also has a lot of structure with the story-within-the-story and the reversals etc.
One point about the title. After watching the film, I read somewhere that “vont en bateau” in French has an idiomatic sense of something like “go on a wild goose chase”. Can’t find the reference now, but if true obviously makes a lot of sense. And adds an extra dimension to Rivette literalizing the title at the very end by having them actually go boating.
I really love this film. After never having seen it before, I have watched it twice in the last year.
Just a small correction though. Keith says "The story itself is original but it’s of a familiar, melodramatic type: jealous people with money destroying each other while an innocent pays the price."
It's actually not original. It's kind of a version of Henry James's "The Romance of Certain Old Clothes".
This is one of those movies I'm vaguely waiting to see until it turns up on a repertory theater screen near me, but maybe I should break down and stream it.
FWIW, I think the movie plays just fine on streaming, though hearing Will talk about seeing it with a friendly audience makes that experience sound appealing. But it's not like ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST or anything.
It's heartening to read that it plays fine on streaming. Because so much of the first half is either a) the girls goofing around or b) clues about what's happening in the house, I was worried that someone's attention would wander too easily if watching at home. I feared that it was one of those movies that needed the forced focus that comes with watching in a dark room that's not your home.
This movie was a revelation for me. Especially with the theme that we didn't just have to keep living out the same tired, broken narratives. That we are more than out limiting assumptions and we sometimes need another perspective to realize that we even have them. And the joy that can be found when we dynamite the narrative and further our own.
When Celine and Julie act as audience stand ins during the initial story within the story, I thought that was the filmmakers telling us "you too can break free, if you are only willing to try."
I watched on my own, but find the other period characters showing up in a boat at the end represented the old guard being embittered about new options. I also thought the boats represented just two of any number of potential narratives that could transpire.
(after realizing this is a bit of a puzzle movie, which I was unaware of, I skipped the majority of this commentary so I could go watch it myself. but at least now I'm not waiting for the fireworks factory)
Every time I read one of these, basically the same thing happens: it goes from a title I'm vaguely aware of, to a discussion of the director who, it turns out has done other movies I'm vaguely aware of (or occasionally have even seen) and it turns out that this particular movie sounds really interesting and worth watching, so it goes on my watchlist which eventually just becomes the Sight & Sound poll 100.
Great discussion. I didn’t get to see this until it magically appeared on the Criterion Channel in 2020, but it thoroughly hooked me.
Your mention of SHERLOCK JR. reminded me of one of the details I noticed when I watched this: the STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. poster in Céline’s dressing room. One way or the other, Buster Keaton was on Rivette’s mind when he was making this.
Aside from Mulholland Drive, are there other films that use the narrative device of the characters infiltrating another piece of art? I kept coming back to this idea of the movie wearing another movie like a cheap Halloween mask. It seems like such a durable structure for subverting another narrative that I’m surprised it’s not more common.
May December does this a bit — the movie inhabits the Laterno narrative in order to turn it inside out.
I saw a screening of this a few weeks ago, and the shot of the Madlyne’s former caretakers pursuing them in the boat absolutely broke the theater. It’s such a strange, disquieting, hysterically funny punchline that somehow makes perfect sense.
I'll mull over your first question a bit more—there's Sherlock Jr./The Purple Rose of Cairo, maybe Pleasantville, The Last Action Hero... I dunno—but I want to say that I love the audience reacting that way to the boating scene. I did suspect that the film might be a bit of a crowd-pleaser and this seems to confirm that.
Thank you! I need to watch Last Action Hero at some point.
It was a lovely screening, and most of the humor really landed. Although a guy in my row spent the first 20 minutes howling at the film, then proceeded to take a very restful nap for the rest, occasionally waking to resume cackling at one scene or another. It was more amusing than disruptive.
The film version of The French Lieutenant’s Woman kinda does this, dividing between the period fiction and the actors portraying it.
You mentioned Mulholland Dr. But Inland Empire certainly amps up the idea.
There’s also a Raul Ruiz movie named Love Torn In A Dream that features various characters crossing from one construct to another.
Thank you! I’ve never heard of the Ruiz film, will need to check it out.
Very different direction from the other ones mentioned, but Wreck-It Ralph.
I hate to bring it up because I don’t like the film, but there’s a scene in READY PLAYER ONE where the characters enter and interact with Kubrick’s adaptation of THE SHINING.
Ha! I guess the IP mashup approach does a similar thing, although without the desire to subvert it.
On a much more direct level, THE PERVERT’S GUIDE TO CINEMA inserts Zizek into various films while he’s providing commentary on them.
Great piece! This was super fun to read. I didn’t know much about this film and watched it last fall because it was on the S&S list, and it blew me away. Exactly because it’s so playful and fun, but also has a lot of structure with the story-within-the-story and the reversals etc.
One point about the title. After watching the film, I read somewhere that “vont en bateau” in French has an idiomatic sense of something like “go on a wild goose chase”. Can’t find the reference now, but if true obviously makes a lot of sense. And adds an extra dimension to Rivette literalizing the title at the very end by having them actually go boating.
So, BFI says "vont en bateau" is a colloquialism meaning "taken for a ride". Which also makes a lot of sense. See here: https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/where-begin-jacques-rivette.
I really love this film. After never having seen it before, I have watched it twice in the last year.
Just a small correction though. Keith says "The story itself is original but it’s of a familiar, melodramatic type: jealous people with money destroying each other while an innocent pays the price."
It's actually not original. It's kind of a version of Henry James's "The Romance of Certain Old Clothes".
Watched this during COVID (along with the above mentioned La Belle Noiseuse) and it's just an absolute masterpiece.
This is one of those movies I'm vaguely waiting to see until it turns up on a repertory theater screen near me, but maybe I should break down and stream it.
FWIW, I think the movie plays just fine on streaming, though hearing Will talk about seeing it with a friendly audience makes that experience sound appealing. But it's not like ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST or anything.
In a very fortuitous bit of timing, I just noticed it's coming to one of PDX's repertory theaters in March! (Clinton Street Theater woot!) https://cstpdx.com/event/celine-and-julie-go-boating/
It's heartening to read that it plays fine on streaming. Because so much of the first half is either a) the girls goofing around or b) clues about what's happening in the house, I was worried that someone's attention would wander too easily if watching at home. I feared that it was one of those movies that needed the forced focus that comes with watching in a dark room that's not your home.
This movie was a revelation for me. Especially with the theme that we didn't just have to keep living out the same tired, broken narratives. That we are more than out limiting assumptions and we sometimes need another perspective to realize that we even have them. And the joy that can be found when we dynamite the narrative and further our own.
When Celine and Julie act as audience stand ins during the initial story within the story, I thought that was the filmmakers telling us "you too can break free, if you are only willing to try."
I watched on my own, but find the other period characters showing up in a boat at the end represented the old guard being embittered about new options. I also thought the boats represented just two of any number of potential narratives that could transpire.
"Céline and Julie (and Madlyn) do eventually go boating"
Thank god!
(after realizing this is a bit of a puzzle movie, which I was unaware of, I skipped the majority of this commentary so I could go watch it myself. but at least now I'm not waiting for the fireworks factory)
Yes, it's the prize waiting for you at the bottom of the Cookie Crisp box.
Every time I read one of these, basically the same thing happens: it goes from a title I'm vaguely aware of, to a discussion of the director who, it turns out has done other movies I'm vaguely aware of (or occasionally have even seen) and it turns out that this particular movie sounds really interesting and worth watching, so it goes on my watchlist which eventually just becomes the Sight & Sound poll 100.