Événement

Out 1: Spectre @ Robert Classic French Film Festival

Saturday, March 12, 5 p.m.
Out 1: Spectre
Jacques Rivette, 1971/1974, 264 min., color, Blu-ray projection source

Jacques Rivette, a co-founder of the French New Wave, has always been that group's most free-spirited and aesthetically radical member. This is very much on display in "Out 1," his fourth feature film and magnum opus, in which a whimsical young man (Jean-Pierre Léaud) receives anonymous notes that put him on the trail of a mysterious group of people who might or might not be conspirators. Based on an utterly unique concept that includes the absence of a script and nods to Honoré de Balzac and Lewis Carroll, "Out 1" has been practically impossible to see for more than 40 years. "Out 1: Spectre" -- the 1974 theatrical condensation of the eight-part, 13-hour full version released in 1971 -- has now received a 2K restoration supervised by the film's director of photography, Pierre-William Glenn ("Day for Night"). The colorful characters that Léaud encounters during his quest are played by Juliet Berto, Michael Lonsdale, Bernadette Lafont, Bulle Ogier, Françoise Fabian, Jean-François Stévenin, and other New Wave icons, with special appearances by directors Éric Rohmer and Barbet Schroeder.

Calling the film "a challenging and terrifying journey for all who can bear with it," Time Out London writes that the film "enrages some spectators because it gives them so much to cope with." An immensely involving, almost addictive blend of film, literature, and theater, the film has rightly been hailed as the Holy Grail of modern French cinema, with the New York Times writing, "In the annals of monumental cinema, there are few objects more sacred than 'Out 1.'"

With an introduction and post-film discussion by Robert Hunt, former film critic for the Riverfront Times and former adjunct professor of film studies at Webster University.