La Belle Noiseuse | Michel Piccoli, Jane Birkin

La Belle Noiseuse | Michel Piccoli, Jane Birkin | Beauty Its Own Reward

DVDs:

La Belle Noiseuse

	La Belle Noiseuse Michel Piccoli, Jane Birkin New Yorker Video, 2004 average customer review:based on 28 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Wow, long long long

This is a very long film. I saw the DVD version, purchased new from Amazon, which probably was a transfer. The quality is not bad - better than a VHS tape but not equivalent to the newest DVD's. This film uses very slow pacing - I liked it a lot although it's certainly not something for the MTV generation where everything has to be done at warp speed. The camera dwells on the painting process brush stroke by brush stroke interspersed by the beautiful body of Emmanuelle Béart. The French countryside scenery, the old house of the artist and the studio are examples of beautiful photography. You have lots of time during this film to admire the old painted woodwork of the doors and mouldings - the spaciousness of the house reminds me of Rodin's old house now the Musee Rodin. The primary colors used on the interior doors and trim remind me a lot of Monets house at Giverny. This is an artists house. I loved this film for the atmosphere and the character development. I'm not sure if all films should be done this way, but the snails pace works well here. It allows you to soak up the atmosphere - after 4 hours it was over and believe it or not I was still looking for more. A film definitely not for everybody but I'm glad it was created. Watch this when you have lots of time and are not in any particular hurry to "move onto the next thing". Open a bottle of wine, find a friend to enjoy this with and luxuriate in the slow slow slow pace.

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Beauty Its Own Reward

Rivette not only takes us inside an artist's patient - and impatient - method, he shows us how the search for beauty, collaboration and setting aside the ego can transform a life. This is a long but never tedious exploration of these ideas. Some may find the "twist" of the ending dissatisfying, but it's in keeping with the notion that sometimes the process matters more than the product.

Arts Brilliant Union of the Tangible and Intangible...

Time and space put together create an existence. The existence that La Belle Noiseuse illustrates is human interaction. An existence with human relations offers both abstracts and tangibles, however, a complete description of existence is very difficult to illustrate in regards to human relation. A complete description would illustrate moments of thought, feeling, and action, as these would interact with one another. Thus, reality is a muddled concoction of the tangible and intangible. The complete image of the truth will never be fully uncovered, as reality does not allow the audience to know the secrets that each individual possesses in their mind. Despite the abstract concept of ultimate truth, La Belle Noiseuse conceptualizes such a moment where time and space merge into existence while it flirts with the notion of complete illustration of human existence.

The story opens in a small courtyard during a sweltering summer day where Nicolas (David Bursztein) is sitting in the shadow enjoying a cup of coffee. His girlfriend Marianne (Emmanuelle Béart) sneaks up on him taking a photo while pretending to be a paparazzi. Two British women see the moment when Marianne takes the picture with the camera and the following situation, as they quickly come to their assumption of the situation. However, this moment provides an insight to what is to come in the film, as the audience realizes that one cannot always trust what one sees.

Porbus (Gilles Arbona), a friend of Nicolas and Marianne, arrives later the same day and he is to bring Nicolas who is an up and coming painter to meet Edouard Frenhofer (Michel Piccoli). Frenhofer's wife, Liz, (Jane Birkin), greets them when they arrive and it seems Frenhofer has forgotten about his meeting with Nicolas. However, Frenhofer returns home after they have waited for sometime in the hot afternoon sun sipping on something cool. The sixty-year-old Frenhofer used to be a talented painter, but has not accomplished anything of significance in the last decade.

During the visit at the Frenhofer's château, the audience will experience an ominous atmosphere, as if to warn the characters in the film. Marianne recognizes there is something strange in the works, but Nicolas who wants to meet with Frenhofer puts her worries aside. However, the bizarre ambiance continues to hang in the air, until Porbus accidentally shakes up the atmosphere at a late supper.

The heat makes the small group seek the cool air of Frenhofer's studio. Their conversation leads toward art and Frenhofer's creations, which eventually leads to La Belle Noiseuse. La Belle Noiseuse is a painting that Frenhofer never created, but rather exists as an idea. However, something suggests that it actually was painted, but he never was satisfied with the painting and it may have disappeared. Later, when Porbus accidentally shakes up the atmosphere, the idea of using Marianne as a model for the La Belle Noiseuse materializes. Nicolas agrees that it is a good idea and accepts on Marianne's behalf while Porbus agrees to purchase the painting. Up to this point, the audience will only have seen less than 30 minutes of this epic four-hour long film.

Later Marianne learns from Nicolas that he has accepted that she will model for Frenhoher. Frustration boils up inside of her, but instead of following her own will she returns to the château to begin her modeling. Cleverly, the director Jacques Rivette displays prolonged scenes where the audience can observe the creation of several sketches over the artist's shoulder. Vigorously Frenhofer attempts to capture the essence of Marianne while she resists giving whatever he struggles to transfer to a canvas. The audience can hear Frenhofer's hard work, as the pen is scratching the paper on which he is making sketches to help him capture the true Marianne.

Throughout Frenhofer's artistic process, the audience can bear witness to Nicolas who begins change his mind as he feels both guilt and jealousy. Initially, Liz offers comfort to Nicolas, but she too slowly changes her disposition of loving support to jealousy. However, Liz's jealousy is not in regards to her husband being able to see Marianne naked all day, but rather due to a void inside her. Simultaneously, as she is dealing with her jealousy she tries to protect Marianne from a painful experience, which she knows will hurt her at the end.

La Belle Noiseuse is a brave film that tries to show something new, which Jacques Rivette successfully does. The cerebral process and emotional struggle of an artist is brought to the light through painstakingly long scenes, which are necessary to depict what Rivette attempts to show. Rivette proves that it is possible to combine the intangible and the tangible in one image, as he shows the long process of bringing them together in time and space on a simple fabric of canvas.

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A fine film about the art of painting

Putting aside the (quite pleasant) nude modeling of Mlle Beart, this film is ultimately about painting and artistic struggle. It details a painter's efforts to capture the very soul of his subject in an image fixed on canvas, which therefore captures only a single moment. The effect of this struggle on both artist and model is the theme of the movie. Oddly, this struggle is captured in the film much more through dialog than visually. For those who will find this sort of conversation among characters interesting, the run time doesn't seem all that long. This movie is likely to appeal to the same audience that enjoyed "My Dinner with Andre," although unlike that movie I'm not sure this one would bear repeated viewings -- it seemed to deliver up everything it had to say on the first viewing.

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Lucious

Emmanuelle Béart is a most pleasing eye- and, assuredly, luscious armful and her eyes really flash with emotion. The first part is rather too long.
The end reminds me of an anecdote about Graf Bobby, old Viennas best-known fun-figure, charming and slightly excentric, when he commissioned a painting of a grand and luxurious bed etc, etc. I believe I have a copy of the book about him somewhere in my library.
Back to the film: the truth may not be shown.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6

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