Céline et Julie vont en bateau (1974)

Director:

Jacques Rivette

Writers:

Juliet Berto (writer)
Eduardo de Gregorio (writer)

Release Date:

September 1974 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery

Plot:

A mysteriously linked pair of young women find their daily lives pre-empted by a strange boudoir melodrama...

Plot Keywords:

Birthday | Pygmy | Drug Use | Comedian | Piano Player

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Juliet Berto	...	Celine
Dominique Labourier	...	Julie
Bulle Ogier	...	Camille
Marie-France Pisier	...	Sophie
Barbet Schroeder	...	Olivier
Nathalie Asnar	...	Madlyn
Marie-Thérèse Saussure	...	Poupie
Philippe Clévenot	...	Guilou
Anne Zamire	...	Lil
Jean Douchet	...	M'sieur Dede
Adèle Taffetas	...	Alice
Monique Clément	...	Myrtille
Jérôme Richard	...	Julien
Michael Graham	...	Boris
Jean-Marie Sénia	...	Cyrille

Also Known As:

Celine and Julie Go Boating (USA)
Phantom Ladies Over Paris (France) (subtitle)

Runtime:

193 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:12A (re-rating) (2005) | UK:15 (video rating) | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Montmartre, Paris 18, Paris, France

Company:

Action Films

Trivia:

It is a misconception that most of the film was improvised by the actors. Jacques Rivette provided structure but did not let his actors "go wild", instead he let them write. A single scene was improvised, where Celine, played by Julie Berto, brags to her associates about her rich American friend. The rest of the scenes where shot from scripted material, mostly thanks to participating actors. The film is collaboration by several authors, including actors Berto, Labourier, Ogier and Pisier. Rivette's involvement in the writing was to give structure to all the contributions, tightening things up.

Quotes:

Olivier: There is a homosexual pancreas in the closet.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)

A celebration of childlike imagination

Movies would seem to be the ideal medium for surrealism, yet there are almost no good surrealist movies. There is the venerable "Un Chien Andalou", and there is "Celine et Julie vont en Bateau", and that might well be the lot. "Celine et Julie" has been one of my favorite films since I first saw it in the 1970s, because it is hypnotic, thought-provoking, mysterious, and funny, all at once. Its overall style could be described as magical realism, in which the quotidian life of Paris serves as a mere background for the magical fantasy life of the protagonists, two young women on a psychic journey, which may or may not end in madness ("vont en bateau", which literally means "go boating", is also slang for "go crazy").

The film is made of moments that seem to happen outside of time. In fact, the passage of time, the succession of events in everyday life, becomes an intrusion on the increasingly shared inner life of the two women, and each takes (hilarious) action to prevent those intrusions from continuing. They determine, in effect, that they must return as adults to their childhood in order to change the past. This may sound like a boring Freudian nightmare, but there is no heavy-handed psychologizing in the movie; it is all play, lighthearted yet beautifully composed. The sound-track is particularly effective, almost hyperrealistic, with no background music. The click of heels on pavement, or the motor of a taxi, loom out of the silence as in a dream, which the movie may be, at its heart.

I give this one a 10. You probably know already whether you would like it. If so, see it in a theater if you can, and on video if you must, but don't miss it.