Customer Reviews

Va Savoir (Original French Version with English Subtitles)

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The film's heroine, Camille, a French stage actress left Paris three years ago and found success in Torino, Italy where she became a lead actress for the theater company. She also became a lover of Ugo, a famous stage director. She returns back to Paris with Ugo and his company to act in Italian as a main character in Pirandello's "As You Desire Me", the play that explores the mysteries of identity and memory. While in Paris, Camille confronts her past life and Pierre, the man whom she loved and still can't forget. I found Camille's character (as played by Jeanne Balibar, the stage actress and a dancer) very interesting. She may not be likable in a beginning but she is talented and every character in the movie after watching her performing at the stage leaves with the feelings that they've witnessed something very special. Camille changes as the movie progresses and in the end she becomes like a sister or close friend to both Celine and Julie. Her every movement, gesture, the way she walks, smiles, turns her head, speaks in two languages changing the timbre of her voice are true marvels to watch and to listen to.

Ugo tries to find in the Paris libraries the lost but existing play by the Italian dramatist of 18th century, Carlo Goldoni and is helped by an intelligent and beautiful young student, Dominique or Do and they both seem to have developed some special feelings for each other. Dominique has a half-brother, Arthur who is in love with Sonja, a new woman in Pierre's life or is he in love with Sonja's exquisite jewelry? Do and Arthur have a mother, Madame Desprez who has inherited the library of the rare and priceless old books but she does not sell them, she keeps them as a memory of her first husband. Sonja, Pierre's girlfriend seems to bring the peace and happiness in Pierre's life after Camille was gone but she, too, had a mystery in her rather wild past for which a marvelous ring, an object of Arthur's desire serves as a reminder.

I like "Va savoir" a lot - it is so well constructed and absolutely Rivettesque and it made me smile all the time. It is long (as usual for Rivette's films) but elegantly relaxed. It moves well with its own wonderful pace and we enjoy leisure walkings and spend time with many old and rare books. We feel longing that is in the air - all six characters desire something and someone. We notice once again how much Rivette likes his characters sitting on the park bench where the magic events begin happening to them. We go through many wonderful sequences, ironic, dramatic, and lyrical and in the end we are awarded by the finale which is truly grand and theatrical in the best sense. After all the movie could be viewed as Rivette's love letter to theater. Va Savoir? Who knows?

Watching this clever and charming back and forth between stage life and real life I kept thinking of Truffaut's version of this idea as executed in The Last Metro, made some 20 yeas earlier, which I'm sure Rivette had seen. Though 4 years older than Truffaut, both were part of the New Wave movement in French film, along with Rohmer, Resnais, and Chabrol. I wish Rivette had dedicated this film to his old friend who died in 1984 at 52, way before his time.

What's new and different here that Truffaut did not do? First, there are three very different principal female characters that are on equal footing: Jeanne Balibar, Marianne Basler, and Hélène de Fougerolles, whereas Truffaut focused primarily on his (then) muse, Catherine Deneuve. Rivette's women are also very French and very beautiful, but each in a unique way. Second, the action taking place on the stage is in Italian whereas off-stage it is in French, which allows Rivette to provide insightful contrasts between the two languages and temperaments -- and showcase Mlle. Balibar's impressive acting talents. Third, because there are three male leads instead of just one in Truffaut's film (played by Gerard Depardieu), Rivette can do more love stories. How many there are I'll leave to the viewer to figure out. It's not obvious.

The movie ends the way it began, with the reminder from Shakespeare.

Bravo, M. Rivette!