PARIS BELONGS TO US Blu-ray Review

9

Film Pulse Score

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Release Date: March 8, 2016
Director: Jacques Rivette
MPAA Rating: NR
Run Time: 120 Minutes
Purchase: Amazon

The films of Jacques Rivette have long been a proverbial white whale for many a cinephile, that is up until recently when the majority of his oeuvre finally made their way to physical media formats with Out 1 recently released as a box set through Kino Lorber as well as a collection of his work presented in an 8 disc set by Arrow Films. Now, the starting point of his career, his debut Paris Belongs To Us, has found a home on the shelf of the Criterion Collection.

Considering Criterion’s extensive lineup of French New Wave directors and works, along with those of varying association, one could assume his inclusion was already an actuality, that he would entrenched as a cornerstone of their French New Wave offerings but such is not the case.

Whatever the circumstances surrounding the acquisition and release of Rivette’s debut may be, the important aspect is that it exists in a tangible, physical form; presented in a 2K digital transfer and its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, with the original monaural soundtrack remastered as well, the rejuvenated nature of Rivette’s film possesses a crisp, clean appearance in terms of audio and visual quality.

At first glance the supplements listed on the back jacket may seem a bit on the meager side, with only two substantial extras included on the Bluray alongside an essay enclosed in the insert, but the information and entertainment contained within definitely augment the extras, gradually quelling any possible perception of lacking.

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The aforementioned essay is from writer/critic Luc Sante (author of Low Life and Kill Your Darlings) titled “Nothing took place but the place”, which provides a relatively quick overview of the film’s production and its delayed release, purporting that a series of unfortunate events lead to an inopportune release date that, perhaps, missed the boat on a potential ahead-of-its-time reception. A solid introduction of Rivette, an account of his early days before meeting the other Cahier du cinema critics and subsequently becoming one of them, as well as his contributions to the magazine as the editor-in-chief from 1963 to 1965 before travelling headlong into a descriptive examination of Paris Belongs To Us and the themes and style he would later develop upon, arriving at a mirroring of the nature of Rivette’s penchant for conspiracy-alluding by attempting to decipher the names and context of the film itself.

Sante isn’t the only one deciphering the cinematic text of Paris Belongs To Us, author of A History of the French New Wave Cinema’s Richard Neupert also joins in the fun in a new interview conducted by Criterion. Running 24 minutes, Neupert picks up where Sante leaves off building upon the essay’s background information of Rivette’s start and influence and the importance and influence of theatre on Rivette’s work. He discusses at length nearly every aspect of the film’s production – the script girl’s responsibilities, the use of sound, staging, lighting, and the raw nature of the film’s aesthetics – with a verve and energy that suggests he may still be in that room expounding on Rivette and the film. He provides a number of examples while the discussed scenes play out onscreen sans subtitles. A casual, stream-of-consciousness tumbling through his mind in an attempt to make sense of the proceedings through a cavalcade of verbalizations, trying to determine the contradictory nature of the film’s dialogue and the paranoia and mystery infused within.

Neupert also briefly discusses the last supplement included – Rivette’s 1956 short film, Le Coup du Berger. Co-written with Claude Chabrol (featuring cameos from Chabrol, Godard and Truffaut), the short is a mix of classical stylings and some of the stylistic hallmarks we’d come to expect from the French New Wave, a tale of marital infidelity structured around chess, an elaborate scheme of a gifted mink and disguising its origins with suspicion and paranoia increasing as alliances and intentions are questioned.

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