Histoire de Marie et Julien (2003)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Jacques Rivette

Writers:

Pascal Bonitzer (scenario) and
Christine Laurent (scenario) ...

Release Date:

12 November 2003 (Belgium)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Romance

Plot:

Julien lives alone with his cat. He dreams of Marie, and a few minutes later, he sees her on the street and makes a date...

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Emmanuelle Béart	...	Marie
Jerzy Radziwilowicz	...	Julien Müller
Anne Brochet	...	Madame X
Bettina Kee	...	Adrienne
Olivier Cruveiller	...	L'éditeur
Mathias Jung	...	Le concierge
Nicole Garcia	...	L'amie

Also Known As:

Storia di Marie e Julien (Italy)
The Story of Marie and Julien (International: English title)

Runtime:

150 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) | Australia:M | Portugal:M/16 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Hong Kong:III | Argentina:16 | Japan:R-15 | UK:15 | Germany:12

Company:

Pierre Grise Productions

Movie Connections:

Follows Duelle (une quarantaine) (1976)

Soundtrack:

Our Day Will Come

One More Time

This is the kind of film in which we are invited to indulge the director in return for the reward of fine performances/lush photography/gorgeous sets/haunting score, perm any three from four. In this case our indulgence is a tacit agreement not to wonder out loud just WHERE Julian gets the commissions to work on a series of outsize clocks in his home/workshop, or how he stumbled on the material with which he is blackmailing Madame X or indeed how anybody in the plot made the acquaintance of anyone else. Apart from Madame X and Marie he appears to have no other contact with anyone despite being middle aged and apparently well established in his large house/workshop. Trying to write a story like this must be like trying to drink from a collander so we badly need the compensation of the aforesaid fine acting, camera-work, score, etc. To some extent they are present and correct but I doubt they will be enough for the majority of viewers.