Three films featuring the beautfiul French actress: Belle Noiseuse - Divertimento (Rivette, 1992), Histoire de Marie et Julien (Rivette, 2003) and The Witnesses (Téchiné, 2007).
Belle Noiseuse - Divertimento: Young artist Nicolas and his mistress Marianne (Emmanuelle Beart) meet a famous painter, Frenhofer (Michel Piccoli), who is persuaded to restart work on a long-abandoned picture for which Marianne agrees to model. As a relationship blossoms between the tyrannical genius and his young muse, tensions develop between the young couple and Frenhofer and his wife. By the time the masterpiece is completed, all four lives have been irreversibly altered. Shot in Academy ratio, showing that you don't need widescreen to be visually stunning, this is an utterly engrossing film that won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 1991 along with numerous other prizes, and which confirmed Rivette, for those who needed it, as one of the great film makers.
Histoire de Marie et Julien: An elegant combination of love story and supernatural thriller from the veteran, but still playful, director Rivette. Horologist Julien lives in a gloomy house with only his cat for company. He then renews an acquaintance with the mysteriously unknowable Marie who moves in with him. Her secret lies with a woman he is blackmailing. An elusive film filled with the rhythm of atmosphere.
The Witnesses: Summer, 1984. Manu arrives in Paris, where he shares a cheap hotel room with his sister Julie. He strikes up a joyous, chaste friendship with Adrien, a wealthy doctor in his early fifties who opens Manu's eyes to a different way of life. On a trip to the seaside, Adrien introduces Manu to Sarah and Mehdi, a young couple who have just had their first child. An unplanned love affair upsets the ordered tranquility of their individual destinies. Each of them becomes a protagonist in, and witness to, a contemporary tragedy, where those who survive may emerge stronger, but not undamaged. A moving story about the early days of AIDS.
