Directed by:
Jacques RivetteCinematography:
Charles L. BitschComposer:
Philippe ArthuysCast:
Betty Schneider, Giani Esposito, Françoise Prévost, Daniel Crohem, François Maistre, Jean-Claude Brialy, Jean Martin, Henri Poirier, Jean-Luc Godard (more)Plots(1)
Anne, a student in Paris, becomes involved with a group of her brother's arty friends and gets sucked into a mystery involving Philip, an expatriate American escaping McCarthyism; Terry, a self-destructive femme fatale; theatre director Gerard; and Juan, a Spanish activist who apparently committed suicide, but was he murdered? Philip warns Anne that the forces that killed Juan will soon do the same to Gerard, who is struggling to rehearse Shakespeare's Pericles. Anne takes a part in the play in an attempt to help him and also discover why Juan died.
Rivette started making his first feature in 1957 and completed it slowly over a period of two years, as money allowed. Finally released in 1961, Paris nous appartient brilliantly captured the mood of paranoia and uncertainty of that Cold War period. Rivette's rarely seen debut is one of the most important and far-reaching of the early New Wave films. Rivette's disquieting film, suffused with sexual and political tension, is as much about its setting a long-vanished Paris full of fleabag hotels and corduroy-clad intellectuals as about its story. It features guest appearances from fellow New Waver directors Claude Chabrol, Jean-Luc Godard and Jacques Demy, a striking musique concrète score, and stunning cinematography in black and white, which manages to be luminous and ominous at the same time.
(British Film Institute (BFI))
Cast
Betty Schneider
France
Best movies:
My Uncle (1958)
Love in the Afternoon (1957)
Classe tous risques (1960)
Giani Esposito
Belgium
Best movies:
Agence matrimoniale (1952)
Les Misérables (1958)
Jean-Marc ou La vie conjugale (1963)
Françoise Prévost
France
Best movies:
Bon Voyage! (1962)
The Condemned of Altona (1962)
Sign of the Lion (1962)
Daniel Crohem
France
Best movies:
La Dernière Nuit (1981) (TV movie)
The Brain (1969)
Sign of the Lion (1962)
François Maistre
France
Best movies:
The Phantom of Liberty (1974)
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
Belle de Jour (1967)
Jean-Claude Brialy
France
Best movies:
Le Glaive et la balance (1963)
The 400 Blows (1959)
Holy Year (1976)
Jean Martin
France
Best movies:
The Day of the Jackal (1973)
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
The Wing and the Thigh (1976)
Henri Poirier
France
Best movies:
The Twelve Tasks of Asterix (1976)
Asterix vs. Caesar (1985)
Order of the Daisy (1967)
Jean-Luc Godard
France
Best movies:
Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962)
Vivre sa vie (1962)
Breathless (1960)
Jacques Demy
France
Best movies:
The 400 Blows (1959)
Jacquot De Nantes (1991)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
Claude Chabrol
France
Best movies:
Animal (1977)
Le Beau Serge (1958)
The Seven Deadly Sins (1961)
Malka Ribowska
Poland
Best movies:
Two Men in Town (1973)
The Fighting Musketeers (1961)
Sundays and Cybele (1962)
Paul Bisciglia
Algeria
Best movies:
The Troops of St. Tropez (1964)
Animal (1977)
Asterix vs. Caesar (1985)
André Thorent
France
Best movies:
The Sicilian Clan (1969)
La Métamorphose des cloportes (1965)
Le Samouraï (1967)
Jean-Pierre Delage
Best movies:
Mother (1991)
State Reasons (1978)
Frantic (1988)
Louison Roblin
France
Best movies:
The French Revolution (1989) (TV movie)
Il n'y a pas de fumée sans feu (1973)
Cavalrymen (1955)
Jean-Marie Robain
France
Best movies:
Order of the Daisy (1967)
Royal Affairs in Versailles (1954)
Army of Shadows (1969)
François Robert
Best movies:
La Dernière Nuit (1981) (TV movie)
Fantômas (1980) (series)
Wedding in Blood (1973)