Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A very young and vital Juliette Binoche carries this, November 18, 2000
Notice how the jackets of just about every video, especially the French ones, SHOUT how SEXY the movie is. In Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Blue," par example, Juliette Binoche and the film are touted as being so, so sexy. But it wasn't, and neither was she. However in "Rendez-Vous" you will see a Juliette Binoche with enough sexual power to awaken a dead man-not to say that this movie is as good as Kieslowski's "Blue." It isn't, but it's not bad.Binoche is full of energy as a provincial French girl with a flair for the stage new to the lights of gay Paree. She plays fast and loose (and natural) with the men she meets, and dodges some serious trouble before working it out with the man she really wants. Characteristically, Director André Téchiné leads us close to the dark side of sex without really offending our sensibilities. Jean-Louis Trintignant appears in a small role that anticipates his triumphant creation as the admiring older man in Kieslowski's "Trois Couleurs: Rouge" nine years later.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant Narration of the Discovery of Love..., April 10, 2005
Love in the romantic sense could be described as an intense personal feeling with steps of warmth, devotion, tenderness, and attachment that could eventually lead to sexual embrace between two individuals with mutual and reciprocal feelings. Despite this description there are many struggles with discovering this truly wonderful sensation and they may skip one or all of the steps and only adopt the sexual embrace. Thus, the individual simply becomes an object for exchange of fluids and temporary lustful desire where the individual loses connection on a more cerebral plane leaving the person with a hollow and empty feeling after the sexual moment. Rendez-vous displays this sexual emptiness where a young woman drifts from man to man, as she seeks a place to sleep for the night.
A realty agency receives a new client in Nina (Juliette Binoche) who is looking for a cheap, not too small, apartment in central Paris. Currently, Nina stays with "friends", men that will let her stay for the night, frequently in exchange for her physical nearness and sexual embrace. Often she tells the men that she loves them in order eliminate questions and awkward moments when she stays with them. However, it seems as if she merely uses them for her personal needs. Paulot (Wadeck Stanczak), the representative from the realty agency receives tickets to one of Nina's performances and he learns all this from her as she leaves her current "friend".
The innocent and kind Paulot finds Nina very attractive and his feelings begin to build up within him. This presents an opportunity that Nina seizes while Paulot helplessly does everything to save her from homelessness. Through Paulot's noble attempts Nina meets Quentin (Lambert Wilson), Paulot's roommate, who seems to be a shady character with much emotional baggage. This becomes obvious, as Quentin follows Nina to her hotel room, which Paulot managed to arrange for her.
Initially, it seems as if the story is going in every possible direction without thought or consideration, as Quentin stalks Nina and convinces her to do what he says. First Quentin appears to be a psychopath with stalking problems as he follows Nina wherever she wanders, which seems to frighten her. When she finds someone to help protect her from him, she ends up protecting Quentin. Quentin introduces Nina to the world of sex theater, and eventually sways her to let him spend the night. This diverging wandering in the storyline initially seems impossible; however, patience will reward the viewers with big dividends.
Rendez-vous turns into a contemporary psychodynamic version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Nina is the film's Juliet, a part she also prepares for in a play while she is struggling to grasp the concept of love during her preparations, as she learns the emptiness of mere sexual embrace and the importance of devotion and tenderness. The director André Téchiné presents the problems in the film through the results of characters actions, which displays immature blind obsession and hatred. There is also a large portion of intolerance in the perspective of each character's feelings, as they all seem to put themselves first. Rendez-vous offers loose adaptation of Shakespeare's teenage tragedy, which leaves the audience contemplating the notion of love, devotion, tenderness, affectionate warmth, and attachment as Nina plays her cards.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Must-see French cinema: Téchiné's 'Rendez-vous .', August 25, 2007
"The nights I've slept alone since I came to Paris I could count on the fingers of one hand."
Directed by André Téchiné, Rendez-vous (1985) is a dark yet powerful French drama that explores love and sexual desire from the point of view of three emotionally-damaged people. It tells the story of Nina (Juliette Binoche, in her first major film role), a sexually-free-spirited young woman who has traveled from Toulouse to Paris in search for success as an actress. Upon her arrival in the City of Lights, she has a series of one-night stands while looking for her own apartment. Three very different men, Fred (Jean-Louis Vitrac), Nina's boyfriend of the moment, Paulot (Wadeck Stanczak), a real estate agent, and Quentin (Lambert Wilson), his actor/roommate, all compete for her attention. Paulot is mild-mannered; Quenten, by contrast, is suicidal, dangerous, and intense. Although Nina complains to Quentin she feels sexually used by nearly every man she encounters in Paris, eventually she has sex with each of the three men (in explicitly erotic scenes). After a theater director, Scrutzler (Jean-Louis Trintignant), casts her as the female lead in Romeo and Juliet, Nina is forced to confront her own self-doubts and fears as she rehearses for the role. Binoche brings a mesmerizing performance to Rendez-vous. Techine won Best Director honors at the Cannes Film Festival.
G. Merritt
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