Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gare de l'Estrogen, December 2, 2008
The humming of train rails, followed by the sound of a passing train, accompanies the credit sequence of GANG OF FOUR. There will be many shots from inside and outside trains over the next 2½ hours. At one end of the line is a Parisian acting academy for young women; at the other end is a suburban house where four of the actresses live.
This world, populated almost entirely of women, is overseen by Constance Dumas (Bulle Ogier), the founder and sole instructor of the academy. At one time there were boys, as well, but they have long since been phased out. Now the theatre, painted entirely red like a giant womb, is "girls only." When men do enter the story, they arrive as interlopers and leave a path of destruction wherever they set foot.
With few exceptions, Rivette's films are about conspiracies. Or they are, rather, about the need for conspiracies, perhaps. A world without order is enough to drive one mad--and, as Rivette's CAHIERS colleague, Eric Rohmer, said in one film, "One can't think of nothing." In GANG OF FOUR, the conspiracy is never spelled out. We end the film knowing only what it may have been.
As for the four housemates, they are approached individually by a man who identifies himself differently each time. He could be a cop, he could be an arms dealer, or he could be a garden-variety grifter. It may not matter. He is a man, and as such he cannot grasp that the housemates are not subject to his idea of motive and action.
With rehearsal for THE DOUBLE INCONSTANCY playing out in the background, there are criss-crossing plots involving at least four characters with multiple identities (Constance, Anna, Claude and Thomas), as well as two characters with the same first and last name--not to mention a phony mugging, two real murders, a bottle of poison, and a ghost. Of all Rivette's later films, this plays like an all-girl version of his first feature, PARIS NOUS APPARTIENT. It is all-the-more focused for its use of gender themes. Well-supplied with facial expressions that go offscreen with no explanation, references to Marivaux and Euripides, a surprising reversal of sexual preference, and a shocking resolution, GANG OF FOUR is a comedic tragedy whose mystery lingers long after the final curtain.
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6 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Approach with caution, February 5, 2002
There appears to be a story behind the making of this film, however, I was and remain unfamiliar with it - Rivette seems to be making a political point about political machinations, cover-ups, and the jailing of innocents. This being a release from the mediocre crew at Image Entertainment, there are no onscreen extras and no printed essays to give the viewer any clue as to the exact intentions of Rivette. What is more (or less), the transfer is poor, with a grainy digital image and thin sound - given there are few close-ups, the bad image quality continually intrudes as the actors facial expressions are difficult to discern.
*
Rivette proposes an unusual scenario - an acting class for young women, taught by a reclusive but once celebrated actress - into this matriarchal nest sneaks a man, at once a liar, a manipulator, and some kind of organ of the state, possibly a policeman, possibly a less accountable agent. Gradually his schemes are revealed, and the action here is counterpointed by scenes from a play the acting students are rehearsing - or, to be more accurate, counterpoint seems to be the idea, but it made little palpable impact on me.
*
As most of the actresses are quite young, there is the feeling that you are viewing a student film, a first feature at any rate. Some scenes have a disarming naturalness, but others are forced, and those calling for strong emotion feel weak and artificial. And the technical aspects of the film, in particular set design and sound, are uniformly lacklustre. Rivette certainly disdains conventional cinematic methods, but it is unclear that his alternatives are worthwhile.
*
It is hard tor recommend this film, although it does seem something of a worthy failure - Rivette has distanced himself deliberately and effectively from Hollywood cliches, and he has extracted reasonable, if not outstanding, performances from his cast - I'm not sure if any of the leads have gone on to greater things (I think not), but it was interesting to see a very young Irene Jacob in a very minor role
*
Of the other Rivette films I've seen, 'Wuthering Heights' is incomparably worse (one of the worst adaptations of any novel I've ever seen), while 'La Belle Noiseuse' is incomparably better, definitely ranking in a personal 'Top Twenty' films of all time.
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