• The debut French New Wave auteur Jacques Rivette—a leisurely-paced, but fascinating paranoia-infused opaque mystery
  • 142 minutes for a debut- indeed, even early, Rivette is the long-form voice from the New Wave
  • A strong opening as we travel through Paris with the camera and fly in through the window to our unlikely (and uknowning) detective Anne- played by Betty Schneider
  • A bizarre score, part guitar and part jazzy percussion
  •  secrecy, conspiracy, “we’re a cog in a vast machine” in the text and Lang’s Metropolis in the text, Rivette uses Parisian architecture in the shadows to effect– but this is a far cry from Antonioni’s Blow-Up or La Notte

Rivette uses Parisian architecture in the shadows to effect– but this is a far cry from Antonioni’s Blow-Up or La Notte

  • Wondrously weird character Philip Kaufman (a Kafka character if I’ve ever seen one, reminded me of Pesci in JFK)- the hotel room with strange wallpaper and creepy drawings

Wondrously weird character Philip Kaufman (a Kafka character if I’ve ever seen one, reminded me of Pesci in JFK)- the hotel room with strange wallpaper and creepy drawings

  • Suicide, politics, innuendo

Suicide, murder, politics, innuendo 

  • Recommend but not in the top 10 of 1961