Product Details

• Actors: Michel Piccoli, Jane Birkin, Emmanuelle Béart, Marianne Denicourt, David Bursztein
• Directors: Jacques Rivette
• Writers: Jacques Rivette, Christine Laurent, Honoré de Balzac, Pascal Bonitzer
• Producers: Martine Marignac, Maurice Tinchant
• Format: PAL
• Language: English, French
• Number of tapes: 1
• Run Time: 238 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004CMAX
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #363,568 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

La Belle Noiseuse is a thrilling and unconventional drama about the responsibility of an artist to his vision and the conflicts that arise when such responsibility is perceived as a threat to others. Michel Piccoli (Le Doulos) delivers one of his finest, most lived-in performances as Edouard Frenhofer, a famous painter living with his artist wife Liz (Jane Birkin) on a spacious estate in the French countryside. Frenhofer has lacked inspiration for a decade and has given up on painting. The idea behind his unfinished masterpiece, La Belle Noiseuse ("The Beautiful Troublemaker"), has been seemingly unattainable for a decade; Liz was the original model for it, and Frenhofer's exhaustion with the project has an emotional parallel to his dispassionate relationship with her.

Along comes a rising artist, Nicolas (David Bursztein), who suggests that his girlfriend, Marianne (Emmanuelle Béart), a writer, could help Frenhofer jumpstart the painting's completion. From this point, most of La Belle Noiseuse becomes a remarkable, seemingly unedited and privileged look at the development of a bond between artist and muse. Béart, fiercely brilliant, spends the majority of the film nude and continually molded into sometimes-painful positions as Frenhofer struggles--sketch after sketch, paint upon paint--to find something beyond the obviousness of Marianne's body. As the two struggle to meet each other halfway, Liz and Nicolas feel marginalized and jealous, putting pressure on Frenhofer to disregard such personal concerns or give in to them. Adapted by French New Wave master Jacques Rivette from a story by Honore de Balzac, the lengthy La Belle Noiseuse is fascinated by the artistic process; it is itself a patient process of watching ideas and aesthetic courage reveal themselves in the face of extraneous aversion. --Tom Keogh

From The New Yorker

édouard Frenhofer (Michel Piccoli) is a celebrated artist living with his wife, Liz (Jane Birkin), in a gorgeous house in the South of France. He is king of the castle, at least until his reign is disturbed by the arrival of a young admirer, who brings with him a ravishing, taciturn girlfriend called Marianne (Emmanuelle Béart). Asked to pose for the master, she refuses angrily yet still turns up next morning and obligingly removes her clothes-just the kind of odd, unreasoning change of heart that tells us we are watching a Jacques Rivette film. Most of it is taken up by artist and model, and by the tricky exchanges of power that unfold with every sitting. Less well known than other leaders of the French New Wave, Rivette continues to make intricate, demanding movies; originally released in a four-hour version ("La Belle Noiseuse," 1991), the movie has now been cut down to half the length, and a good thing, too. It lacks the fluid wit of his best work, yet there is still much to enjoy: the hypnotic atmosphere of the studio, its calm cracked by frustration, and Piccoli's delicious portrait of an artist at the height of his powers, terrified of falling. In French. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "He wanted to paint me because he loved me. He stopped painting me because he loved me", February 25, 2007

By 

M. B. Alcat "Curiosity killed the cat, but sa... (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: La Belle Noiseuse (DVD)

"La Belle Noiseuse", directed by Jacques Rivette, is a splendid albeit admittedly extremely long film that manages to make the spectator understand the possibilities and dangers that are distinctive of art. An extremely good painter can bare the soul of his subject, but that is not always a good thing, specially if the artist's ruthless eye concentrates on the worse moral traits of his model. When is it time to stop? And can a real artist betray himself and his art and not paint what he is seeing?

That is the problem Edouard Frenhofer (Michel Piccoli) faced, when he had to choose between his art and his wife. Frenhofer, an extremely famous artist, decided to stop painting a portrait called "La Belle Noiseuse", because he knew that his model, his wife Liz (Jane Birkin), would hate the results. According to Liz, "He wanted to paint me because he loved me. He stopped painting me because he loved me".

Many years later, Frenhofer gets another chance to finish his painting, thanks to the visit of an admirer, a young painter named Nicolas (David Bursztein). Nicolas suggests that his beautiful girlfriend, Marianne (Emmanuelle Béart), could be the new nude model for "La Belle Noiseuse". Frenhofer loves the idea, as does Liz. Even Marianne, mad at first at Nicolas for his suggestion, ends up embracing the challenge. However, as days go by and Frenhofer and Marianne become immersed in a world of their own, Nicolas and Liz start to feel restless, abandoned. They know that the new painting will make a difference, and that things will never be the same between them and their loved ones. But can they do something? And will it be enough?

Of course, the answers to those questions don't really matter, and you will discover them soon enough if you watch this film. What is important, then? In my opinion, the director wants to show us the process of creation through the eyes of an artist and his model, and the hard choices that sometimes must sometimes be made in order to create a real work of art. Is it worth it? And how much of himself and others should the artist be willing to risk? Those are, from my point of view, the real questions that "La Belle Noiseuse" makes you ask yourself.

On the whole, I can say that I really liked this film, but that I don't recommend it for everybody. If you are just looking for an engaging movie that will entertaing you and make you laugh, "La Belle Noiseuse" is not for you. On the other hand, if you are in the mood for a relatively little known jewel that will amaze and disturb you, making you think, watch this dvd.

Belen Alcat

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow, long long long, May 17, 2005

By 

Tom Gee (Apex, NC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: La Belle Noiseuse (DVD)

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.

60 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Only for hardcore "La Belle Noiseuse" fans (like me), March 6, 2001

By 

Eric Krupin (Salt Lake City, UT) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Divertimento (A Variation on La Belle Noiseuse) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

After receiving extraordinary acclaim for his 4-hour masterwork "La Belle Noiseuse", seminal French New Wave director Jacques Rivette edited it down to 2 hours (by jettisoning its long real-time takes of an artist at work), substituting alternate takes of certain scenes and making subtle but important changes in the scene order. The result is "Divertimento", a slightly darker and, in my opinion, substantially lesser work.

If you admire "La Belle Noiseuse" as much as I do, "Divertimento" will give you a thought-provoking but not revelatory new angle on a great film. If you haven't seen "La Belle Noiseuse" yet, don't cheat yourself by watching this one first.