Va Savoir

2001 film by Jacques Rivette
Rivette happily skips through his scenes in his kind of styleless late style. Still with long takes and scenes, usually getting both sides of the discourse in at once. Often with backgrounds that recede far into the distance. Not fussy, but discrete and often bright backgrounds. The camera floats around, reframing, keeping itself quiet. The multiple strands are here edited very much to play off each other, often surprising in the edit when the door opens to reveal we have returned to one arc.
This film again explores notions of the stage, life as the theatrical production emphasised by Balibar’s soliloquies that are effectively to an audience. The coincidences that crop up, the farce-like nature at times, again gives the impression of the stage. While never explicitly over-dramatic, there is a great lightness of touch, little moments here and there of things a little-to-the-side and so on, that kept the slightly wry atmosphere running through.
This film is really a great pleasure, even a joy to watch. What Rivette does is lavish a great attention on his cast. It is a marvel that he manages to avoid the building up of these characters from falling into tedium, yet it is always sweet and interesting, as though they step into the film fully performed. Perhaps as Rivette has them immediately performing actions, not explaining themselves, just slipping into that gently lapping frame.
For its affection and, yes, love, this film avoids sentimentality due to its ability to not quite let things come together, realising things aren’t quite right, holding us deliberately from melodrama. This obviously isn’t the most cutting or in some ways innovative of Rivette’s works, but it is more than just a picture of certain kinds of people. It is a daydream tempered by reality, as though one invents the story as one goes along. An excellent addition to the late Rivette’s catalogue, and a fine film on its own.