Celine and Julie Go Boating Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review
Mathew Plale
June 14th, 2021
It’s a curious chase sequence–one woman casually but intentionally drops various items, the other picks them up and pursues. It ends in a cafe in an exchange that makes the two seem familiar, or at least aware that the shared experience goes deeper.
The women–Céline (Juliet Berto, Jean-Luc Godard’s JOY OF LEARNING) and Julie (Dominique Labourier, Nadine Trintignant’s IT ONLY HAPPENS TO OTHERS)–move in together, seemingly without any detectable reason. But that need not have a logical explanation, because the film itself, as is apparent as it develops, won’t adhere to expectations, nor will it mold to any paradigm. The viewer could never guess that a dropped scarf would lead to a haunted house or that time wasn’t to be taken seriously.
CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING challenges, winks and skews more than most any other film, no matter the genre (here, a mishmash of fantasy, horror, romance and comedy). Plenty is frustrating (and even nears being wasteful), but the rewards greatly outshine. The film is so self-aware and is openly keen on analyzing and dismantling the viewer’s expectations and what it means to be a viewer in the first place. At what point, if at all, can an audience become participants? What allows or forbids it? What limits do characters have? Is the director in control of the trajectory? Are you sure?
Director Jacques Rivette (1969’s L’AMOUR FOU, 1971’s OUT 1) explores ideas related to identity (the leads swap occasionally), magic (Julie carries a book on the subject; Céline lists her occupation as magician) and cinema (how concrete is the form? how do we know? who determines it all?), mostly all in a quite free-flowing fashion. Rivette still keeps a grip (after all, it’s the story that gets warped, not the film…right?), exploring the potentials and limits of film, plot techniques and storytelling. What’s perhaps most admirable about all of this is that Rivette is able to convince the viewer to come along, to explore what is behind each door, even if we have seen the door multiple times. (Now might be a good place to note the runtime. At over three hours, the film is indeed long. It doesn’t need to be 193 minutes in length–the first hour or so could have been trimmed significantly, especially considering what follows–but, at the same time, it’s not necessarily a slog; the film’s tone and pace, other than the aforementioned first act, for the most part fits, flowing freely but with intent, not unlike one of Céline’s dropped items.)
CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING is one of the most unique films not just of the French New Wave, but in all of cinema.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: 1.37:1 in 1080p with MPEG-4 AVC codec. “This 2K digital restoration was undertaken by Les Films du Losange from the 16 mm original camera negative at Eclair in Vanves, France.”
This transfer looks quite nice, considering it was shot on 16mm. It also remains faithful to that technical aspect, with a natural grain throughout.
Audio: French Mono with English subtitles. “The original monaural soundtrack was restored from the 35 mm magnetic tracks, with additional audio restoration carried out by the Criterion Collection using Avid’s Pro Tools and iZotope RX.”
Dialogue is clean, while the atmosphere (streets, the house) comes through naturally.
Audio commentary featuring critic Adrian Martin
Jacques Rivette: Le Veilleur: A two-part interview with the director from 19744, divided into two parts: Le Jour (13:01) and La Nuit (56:53).
Pacôme Thiellement and Hélène Frappat (34:45): The film scholars discuss CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING.
Bulle Ogier (10:25): Actress Ogier, who played Camille, reflects on making the film.
Barbet Schroeder (10:25): Filmmaker Schroeder discusses producing and acting in the film.
Couleurs du Festival de Cannes (5:59):An archival interview with numerous cast members.
Pour Le Cinéma (11:37): A segment from the French television series.
Jacques Rivette: Histoires de Titres (8:15): An archival interview with Rivette.
Jacque Rivette (20:46): Rivette reflects on CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING in this 2004 interview.
Bulle Ogier, Dominique Labourier, and Marie-France Pisier (35:13): A collection of 2004 interviews.
Also included with this Criterion Collection release: an essay by critic Beatrice Loayza and a 1974 piece by Juliet Berto.
