Friday, April 1, 2011

The Story of Marie and Julien (2003)

The Story of Marie and Julien / Histoire de Marie et Julien (2003)
The Story of Marie and Julien / Histoire de Marie et Julien (2003)

Genre: Drama / Mystery
Director: Jacques Rivette
Starring: Emmanuelle Béart, Jerzy Radziwilowicz, Anne Brochet
Duration: 150 min.
Rating: 7.6/10

Summary:
Julien is a clockmaker with destructive impulses who decides to blackmail Madame X, a stolen antiques trafficker.  What he doesn’t know is that she has an even more dangerous secret that leads him to Marie, with whom he had fallen in love a year earlier.  She is an enigma, and despite their intensifying love, Marie seems incapable of physical feeling.  Julien, who has rediscovered his love for life, is ready to crack the mystery and to help Marie free herself.

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The Story of Marie and Julien from director Jacques Rivette, is the continuation of a project he abandoned 27 years earlier.  A series of films he called Scenes de la vie parallèl, chronicling the battles of supernatural women, of which two previous films were made, Duelle and Noroît

It is a wonderful combination of part erotic romance and part ghost story, set in a strangely quiet sparsely populated Paris.  The film is very well acted, including a lovely multi-faceted performance from Emmanuelle Béart (La Belle Noiseuse), and featuring a memorable supporting role from a cat named Nevermore.    

Another great under-appreciated film from Rivette created with his unique minimalist style, and probably one of the most accessible films in his oeuvre.       

The Story of Marie and Julien / Histoire de Marie et Julien (2003)

The Story of Marie and Julien / Histoire de Marie et Julien (2003)

The Story of Marie and Julien / Histoire de Marie et Julien (2003)

The Story of Marie and Julien / Histoire de Marie et Julien (2003)

The Story of Marie and Julien / Histoire de Marie et Julien (2003)

The Story of Marie and Julien / Histoire de Marie et Julien (2003)

The Story of Marie and Julien / Histoire de Marie et Julien (2003)

The Story of Marie and Julien / Histoire de Marie et Julien (2003)

4 comments:

Bonjour Tristesse said...

For what I can remember, she was the only good thing about that movie.

The Angry Vegetarian said...

Sounds like a great film. As I've said many times, I love French films for many reasons. I just added this to my Netflix queue.

Beasts in Human Skin said...

Oooooooooh. It sounds deep.

Guy Movie Blogger said...

Emmanuelle Béart is stunningly beautiful. I remember her from Mission Impossible when she was a good ten years younger. French women age really well!

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