Gang of Four

A Rivette film covering the usual ground with somewhat less satisfying results: the theater, the relationship between art and reality, interactions between a female group, a bit of intrigue… but it all adds up to less, and certainly nothing new. Nevertheless, it’s a joy to watch, and the typically overlong runtime speeds by. His characters in this film are perhaps more relatable and human than they have been in any other, which is certainly to its credit; I became absorbed in the concerns of these young women very quickly, each of the main “four” emerging as a fascinating individual, and wondered with them what’s the matter with their friend Cécile.

By now I’m not disturbed by Rivette’s sort of stream-of-conscious narrative, following a thread only as long as it interests him, and resolving nothing by the closing credits (careful not to speak of a “conclusion” — his texts are open-ended). Somehow, the questions raised are less interesting here, less the kind one would like to work out for oneself later and more the kind one expects the film itself to answer, such as the revelation that comes two-thirds into the film, never to be revisited, that Anne is searching for a sister who disappeared years ago.

Perhaps that’s just it: in life, things are not wrapped up so easily, and their theater instructor Constance’s guidance to “trust the poetry” has no real value; life does not follow the neat rules of Aristotelian drama. And indeed that may be the point; throughout most of the film, their mentor is only seen from one angle, and only in front of a stage. Real life has a way of breaking into what the girls know of her world, too, when she becomes absorbed in Cécile’s troubles. This is never quite explained, as the viewer knows no more than the students do, but it clearly changes their lives irrevocably, the moment fact engulfs fiction in a way they are not prepared for. Well? I am talking myself into more of an appreciation of this film and suppose I’d better give it some more consideration. I should say: I liked it thoroughly on my first look, and perhaps there’s more substance there than a first look can reveal.