Langbahn Team – Weltmeisterschaft

L'Amour fou (film)

L'Amour fou
Directed byJacques Rivette
Written byMarilù Parolini
Jacques Rivette
Produced byGeorges de Beauregard
StarringBulle Ogier
Jean-Pierre Kalfon
CinematographyÉtienne Becker
Alain Levent
Edited byNicole Lubtchansky
Music byJean-Claude Éloy
Distributed byNew Yorker Films (USA)
Release date
  • 15 January 1969 (1969-01-15)
Running time
245 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench

L'Amour fou is a 1969 French romantic drama film directed by Jacques Rivette, who co-wrote the script with Marilù Parolini.

Plot

L'Amour fou follows the dissolution of the marriage between Claire, an actress (played by Bulle Ogier), and Sebastien, her director (Jean-Pierre Kalfon). It is black and white with two different film gauges (35 mm and 16 mm) employed at different times throughout the film. The film focuses on a long cycle of self-destruction in Claire and Sebastien's relationship.

The central event in the film's narrative is a three-week period of preparation by a theater group for a production of Racine's version of Andromaque. A crew films the preparations of the theater company in handheld 16 mm, while the rest of the film is shot in 35 mm. This framework allows Rivette to focus on the act of direction, in the formation of an artwork and the dissolution of a relationship.

Significance

The film is pivotal in Rivette's career as a precursor to his vast 12+ hour opus Out 1 which followed two years later.

Cast

Further reading

  • Rivette, Jacques; De Pascale, Goffredo (2003). Jacques Rivette (in Italian). Il Castoro. ISBN 88-8033-256-2.

References