The Beautiful Troublemaker
1991
Directed by Jacques Rivette
Our streak of drawn out films continues with La belle noiseuse, which clocks in at four hours. I guess the intention of this one is to portray every mind numbing moment of the artistic process to illustrate how exhausting it is. Point taken, I suppose, although as a writer, I am painfully aware of this already.
Frenhofer is a retired artist living a quiet existence with his wife, who used to be a model. They are visited by a young couple, Nicolas and Marianne. Nicolas is an aspiring artist and offers Marianne up as a model for Frenhofer's unfinished painting, La belle noiseuse. Slowly, Frenhofer creates his painting, unsure whether he still has what it takes to make something beautiful. Slowly. Very slowly.
I know it would have been totally cliche, but I was hoping for more of a passionate love story between Frenhofer and Marianne. I guess their connection was more artistic and intellectual than sexual. How dull of them. At the very least, it would have been a bit more exciting; as I said, this movie moves at a snail's pace.
It is, undoubtedly, quite beautiful but I was ultimately disappointed a bit with the story. It seemed reluctant to move in a significant direction, at least until the end. I never thought I would say that about something inspired by Balzac!
RATING: ***--
Interesting Facts:
One of Kurosawa's favorite films.
Dragged a bit didn't it?
ReplyDeleteUgh yes it did.
DeleteWell, Amanda, there is actually a difference between Frenhofer and us regarding the art creation. We (thankfully) don't have to make other people go through the same excruciating process. Emmanuelle Béart is a primal example here. She must have had to spend a lot of hours standing naked in weird postures and still managed to perform at a very high level. Her job is truly amazing here but had to do all that because a screenwriter/director said so. In the same way, her character is manhandled by the artist in order to find the perfect posture.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't know if I could stand having another human being at the expenses of my flimsy inspiration. At least, when you are a writer, you only hurt yourself... and your editor.