Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

writers_reign At university I was once obliged to reply in the form of an essay to the question 'Would Moby Dick be a better or worse book if the scientific sections were omitted'. My reply was along the lines of 'If the scientific parts were omitted Moby Dick would be a shorter bad book' and that's how I often feel about Rivette who seems incapable of shooting anything less than three hours - nothing wrong with that, witness Gone With The Wind - which is okay EXCEPT his ideas are usually worth no more than forty minutes. He exemplifies most of the things wrong with the New Wave, the abrupt cutting in the middle of a scene, characters appearing on the other side of town moments after walking out of frame, insufficient 'back story' and/or information. A typical example in this film. Roland confronts Ninon in her apartment and accuses her of stealing a set of documents (which we have in fact seen her do). She tells him to close his eyes, he obliges, she retrieves the documents from where she had hidden them, tells him to remain seated with his eyes closed and - wait for it - LEAVES the apartment, goes across town and gives the papers to Louise after which they go to a night club and dance. In the next shot Ninon enters her apartment Where, incredibly, Roland is STILL sitting with his eyes closed; in real time this would have to be several hours but Rivette shoots it in such a way as to give the impression of just a few minutes. Okay, call this high Art if you will but Me, I call it SLOPPY film making. The film is full of such sloppiness; it's billed as a Musical yet the first number occurs more than an hour into the story and such music as there is is banal in the extreme. The plot, or what passes for one, is our old friend the three disparate lives who somehow contrive to interweave; the three leading actresses are certainly competent or even slightly better than competent as are the males but there are too many dead ends like the faux suicide club which amounts to little more than a twenty minute self-contained set piece inside a three hour movie and serves no discernible purpose. Ironically I thoroughly enjoyed Rivette's Va Savoir and there are certainly echoes of that movie here in the library scenes and the dormer window utilised by Jeanne Balibar in the latter. On balance this is one to be endured rather than enjoyed.

spechax One can see that the director really loves his actors, his work, and his audience. Perfect. The librarian girl subplot is so touching, especially the end! My only complain is "The voice of the father" - I understand, that it's supposed to sound "alienated", but it sounds completely unnatural, like it was just an imagination of Louise, or a tape playing. Anyway, this is a beautiful film. 10 stars.

Andrew Humphrey I didn't like it at all, it seemed pointless and silly to me. Just having those two random musical numbers seemed daft rather than stylish. That "Cole Porter" song was horrible.The subplot about the strange murder game just petered out, it didn't make any sense to me at all. There was also an strange moment when Nino and Louise suddenly were great pals, walking down the street arm in arm, having only met vaguely before that.It could have been intriguing and fun, but I thought it was fake whimsical and boring.It was the only thing with English subtitles here in Vientiane, but I wish I hadn't bothered.

sleepsev Superb! Excellent! Two-Thumbs Up! Gratifying! Captivating! Sumptuously Made!That's still less than half of what I want to say for this film. I saw this film once in February, and completely fell in love with it. When it was shown in a cinema here again in October, I went to see it, doubting if my enjoyment would lessen in the second viewing when it loses all its unpredictability. But I found that my love for it grows even stronger. And I don't mind seeing it over and over again. For me, its running time seems like less than an hour. It makes time fly so quickly. Though a part of me think the film ends at the right point and at the right time, another part of me still yearns to see more of these characters. Nathalie Richard and Marianne Denicourt shines so brightly in this movie. Though I had seen a few films of Richard and Denicourt, it is this film that made me fall in love with them. From this film, I can see that Richard is very talented, and Denicourt is really alluring. I hope they will be very famous and I will have a chance to see many more of their works. Andre Marcon (Roland) is quite good too. As for Laurence Cote (Ida) and Bruno Todeschini, though they might be talented, their roles here are not of very pleasant, cheerful or likeable characters, and seem to require less range of expressive emotions than other characters. (Bruno is a lot more gorgeous in "Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train.") The choreography in this movie is my most favourite of all time. I have never seen any choreography like this before. I also like one irony in this film: Ninon wants to reveal a character's wrongdoing ,but his wrongdoing is in a way similar to her own. Songs here are very beautiful, and I'm quite impressed by Enzo Enzo. I really like the "shock therapy" scene, and an early scene in which Denicourt shows her unexpected strength is not only very comical, but also unforgettable to me.I think I would have a great fun if I could live my life in Rivette's universe, as Ninon, Louise, Celine, or Julie. Though "Celine and Julie Go Boating" is still my most favourite film by Rivette, I think "Haut bas fragile" deserves to be called one the 10 best films of the 1990's.