Duelle
2h 0m
Directed by Jacques Rivette • 1976 • France
Starring Juliet Berto, Bulle Ogier, Nicole Garcia
Jacques Rivette’s overlooked—though no less mesmerizing—follow-up to his beloved CÉLINE AND JULIE GO BOATING plays like the dark, noir-tinged flip side to that film’s sunny fantasy. Juliet Berto and Bulle Ogier return to Rivette’s troupe as the Queen of the Night and the Queen of the Sun, respectively, two deities locked in a battle for control of a magic diamond in a modern-day Paris that glows with the otherworldly mystery of an Edward Hopper nightscape. Fusing 1940s American genre cinema (spot the references to everything from Val Lewton to THE BIG SLEEP) with myth, Rivette weaves a moody, shape-shifting cinematic séance that casts a lingering spell.