Jacques Rivette

Born in Rouen in 1928, at the age of 17 Jacques Rivette founded a film club in his hometown. Some time later he became a student at the Sorbonne, and began to join the moviegoing circle of the Latin Quarter, where he met figures like Éric Rohmer . Both would join the staff of the magazine Cahiers du Cinéma, where Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut were already present . Among all these analysts and film critics, and some other figure, they promoted the Nouvelle Vague, which completely renewed French cinema.

Rivette himself is considered the founder of the movement for his short Aux quatre coins . He made his feature film debut with Paris nous appartient , from 1958, about a literature student in Paris. The second, La religiosa , with Anna Karina , caused an enormous controversy that prevented it from being seen on the screens until a decade after filming.

His films, indebted to the theater, aspire to absolute freedom, perhaps for this reason sometimes he exceeds the length, as in the case of Amor loco , of four hours, and especially Out 1 , which reaches thirteen hours.

His portrayal of female characters stands out in titles such as Céline and Julie go by boat , Love by land , The beautiful liar , Juana the virgin , High low fragile , Who knows , The Duchess of Langeais or Last summer , which was his last worked.

Divorced from screenwriter Marilù Parolini , Rivette is considered a key figure in the authorial theory that he staunchly defended along with his colleagues Truffaut and Godard. “ Only some filmmakers deserve to be considered authors, on the same level as Balzac or Molière “, explained Jacques Rivette .