La Bande des quatre

While some are among my favourites, Rivette films are not always something I can just dive into and relish. I think I've started this twice before managing to see it the whole way through, and I think I've managed to feel it out now. They are cryptic and puzzling, but I get a lot out of them. They often seem very thoughtful films to me, and require a bit of a thoughtful headspace. This doesn't equate, for me, to being concretely significant, it is just an air.

This is a refined version of 'Paris nous appartient' and a more focused film. What Rivette achieves with this film that eluded him with his first foray into making cinema is the depiction of theatre, and in particular rehearsal, as a refuge of law and order that shields us (actors more so than the audience) from the uncertainty and mystery of the non-performative world (which reaches its zenith as conspiracy). Of course, as Thomas reminds us, this can be good and bad as far as the truth goes.

Now that's what I'd call identity politics

a train, a man, a performance, an apartment. these four sequences repeat and then merge with each other as four women become embroiled in an intangible conspiracy. stories are told, puzzles are solved, yet loose ends hang conspicuously from every corner of this labyrinth. once again, a fascinating, serpentine, and utterly captivating film from rivette on the complex relationship between the actress and her performance.