For Rivette, Paris is a city of secrets and puzzles, of hidden alliances and privileged locations-a park bench here, a courtyard there-forming the nexus of magical encounters.-Jonathan RosenbaumOf all the French New Wave directors of the 1960s who came to filmmaking from film criticism and made the critical gaze operational, Jacques Rivette remains the least known and least shown. But historically he was the first of the Cahiers du Cinéma critics (Godard, Truffaut, et al.) to produce a film, and more importantly, he is still making pictures that challenge our perception of cinema, life, and the intersection of the two. Rivette frequently uses the delights and mysteries of Paris itself as a stage for films about acting, role playing, and discovery. No one since the silent director Feuillade (Les Vampires) has made such inspired and inventive use of Paris outdoors. In November we are pleased to present six Rivette features, including two West Coast premieres-the delightful Paris-based musical Up/Down/Fragile and the acclaimed two-part historical epic Joan the Maiden; the rarely screened Love on the Ground and The Gang of Four; and well loved early features Céline and Julie Go Boating and The Nun in available English subtitled prints. As a cinephile whose presence at Cinémathèque Française screenings is almost as predictable as the projectionists'; as editor of Cahiers for many years and author of countless articles and interviews with American and European filmmakers, Rivette may know more than anyone about directorial control and mise-en-scène. But it's not a working method that interests him, "in fact (it) bored me to tears," he said. His films are frequently about mysterious master plans: the cryptic involvement of an invisible puppeteer haunts the films from his first, Paris Belongs to Us, to the recent Up/Down/Fragile. But Rivette opens up the process of creation, and as early as Céline and Julie Go Boating his cast members were creating their own characters and dialogue, and thus changing the game. As a result, Rivette is easily the most feminist-and the most easily feminist-of the French filmmakers. The audience itself is the third part of the creative equation, and we invite you to investigate Rivette's cinema of mystery, role playing, delight, and discovery. Our special thanks to Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, France; Emmanuel Delloye, Cultural Attaché, French Consulate, San Francisco; and Peggy Parsons, National Gallery of Art, for their generous support in making this series possible. Saturday November 1, 1997
