The Story of Marie and Julien

The Story of Marie and Julien
A film poster showing a middle-aged man touching the shoulder of a young woman he is in bed with
French theatrical release poster
FrenchHistoire de Marie et Julien
Directed byJacques Rivette
Written by
Produced byMartine Marignac
Starring
CinematographyWilliam Lubtchansky
Edited byNicole Lubtchansky
Production
companies
  • Pierre Grise Productions
  • Cinemaundici
  • Arte France Cinéma
  • VM Productions[1]
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 10 September 2003 (2003-09-10) (Toronto Film Festival)
  • 12 November 2003 (2003-11-12) (France)
Running time
150 minutes
Countries
  • France
  • Italy
LanguageFrench

The Story of Marie and Julien (French: Histoire de Marie et Julien) is a 2003 drama film directed by Nouvelle Vague film maker Jacques Rivette. The film slowly develops from a drama about blackmail into a dark, yet tender, supernatural love story between Marie and Julien, played by Emmanuelle Béart and Jerzy Radziwiłowicz.[3][4][5] Anne Brochet plays the blackmailed Madame X. Béart had previously worked with Rivette in La Belle Noiseuse, as had Radziwiłowicz in Secret Defense. The film was shot by William Lubtchansky, and edited by Nicole Lubtchansky, both frequent collaborators of Rivette's.

The film was originally going to be made in 1975 as part of a series of four films, but shooting was abandoned after two days, only to be revisited by Rivette 27 years later. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2003 and had a cinema release in France, Belgium and the UK. It was shown in competition at the San Sebastian International Film Festival and was nominated for the Prix Louis-Delluc. Some critics found the film tedious, long, and pretentious, while others maintained that it was moving, intelligent, and among Rivette's best work. The film was frequently compared to other supernatural thrillers, among them The Sixth Sense (1999), and The Others (2001) and to the Hitchcock film, Vertigo (1958).

  1. ^ a b "Histoire de Marie et Julien". Film and Television Database. BFI. Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference screendaily was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference artificialeye was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Kehr, Dave (19 July 2005). "Critic's Choice: New DVD's [sic]". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference interpreting was invoked but never defined (see the help page).