Va savoir (2001)

Director:

Jacques Rivette

Writers:

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

Release Date:

10 October 2001 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Quick-witted, well-read cultured types revolve around each other in a delightful potpourri of theatre, romanticism and theft.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Theater | Jealousy | Paris France | Based On Play

Awards:

3 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Jeanne Balibar	...	Camille B.
Marianne Basler	...	Sonia
Hélène de Fougerolles	...	Dominique 'Do'
Catherine Rouvel	...	Madame Desprez
Sergio Castellitto	...	Ugo
Jacques Bonnaffé	...	Pierre
Bruno Todeschini	...	Arthur
Claude Berri	...	Librarian
Attilio Cucari	...	Salter
Bettina Kee	...	Mop
Luciana Castellucci	...	Lena
Emanuele Vacca	...	Salesio
Arturo Armone Caruso	...	Bruno
Valeria Cavalli	...	Ines
Fausto Maria Sciarappa	...	Silvio

Also Known As:

Va Savoir (Who Knows?) (Australia) (USA)
(Chi lo sa?) (Italy)
Chi lo sa? (Italy) (alternative spelling)
Va savoir + (France) (director's cut)
Va savoir - Keiner weiß mehr (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for brief nudity.

Runtime:

France:154 min | France:220 min (director's cut) | Germany:154 min | Spain:157 min

Country:

France | Italy | Germany

Language:

French | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:15 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:6 | Netherlands:AL | Spain:13 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:PG | USA:PG-13 | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Pierre Grise Productions

Goofs:

Continuity: A child and a bicycle in the background disappears between shots in the park.

Quotes:

Cammille B.: You're seeing Dominique tomorrow?
Ugo: My old Goldoni quirk. She's helping.
Cammille B.: I'm not questioning you.
Ugo: Shall we have dinner?
Cammille B.: I'm not hungry.

Movie Connections:

References As You Desire Me (1932)

Soundtrack:

Senza Fine

"Life is what happens to you as you desire me"

The film's heroine, Camille, a French stage actress left Paris three years ago and found success in Torino, Italy where she became a lead actress for the theater company. She also became a lover of Ugo, a famous stage director. She returns back to Paris with Ugo and his company to act in Italian as a main character in Pirandello's "As You Desire Me", the play that explores the mysteries of identity and memory. While in Paris, Camille confronts her past life and Pierre, the man whom she loved and still can't forget. I found Camille's character (as played by Jeanne Balibar, the stage actress and a dancer) very interesting. She may not be likable in a beginning but she is talented and every character in the movie after watching her performing at the stage leaves with the feelings that they've witnessed something very special. Camille changes as the movie progresses and in the end she becomes like a sister or close friend to both Celine and Julie. Her every movement, gesture, the way she walks, smiles, turns her head, speaks in two languages changing the timbre of her voice are true marvels to watch and to listen to.

Ugo tries to find in the Paris libraries the lost but existing play by the Italian dramatist of 18th century, Carlo Goldoni and is helped by an intelligent and beautiful young student, Dominique or Do and they both seem to have developed some special feelings for each other. Dominique has a half-brother, Arthur who is in love with Sonja, a new woman in Pierre's life or is he in love with Sonja's exquisite jewelry? Do and Arthur have a mother, Madame Desprez who has inherited the library of the rare and priceless old books but she does not sell them, she keeps them as a memory of her first husband. Sonja, Pierre's girlfriend seems to bring the peace and happiness in Pierre's life after Camille was gone but she, too, had a mystery in her rather wild past for which a marvelous ring, an object of Arthur's desire serves as a reminder.

I like "Va savoir" a lot - it is so well constructed and absolutely Rivettesque and it made me smile all the time. It is long (as usual for Rivette's films) but elegantly relaxed. It moves well with its own wonderful pace and we enjoy leisure walkings and spend time with many old and rare books. We feel longing that is in the air - all six characters desire something and someone. We notice once again how much Rivette likes his characters sitting on the park bench where the magic events begin happening to them. We go through many wonderful sequences, ironic, dramatic, and lyrical and in the end we are awarded by the finale which is truly grand and theatrical in the best sense. After all the movie could be viewed as Rivette's love letter to theater. Va Savoir? Who knows?