L’Amour fou (1969) - film review

Sébastien is directing a theatrical production of Jean Racine’s version of the Greek tragedy Andromaque, in which he also plays the lead role of Pyrrhus.   During rehearsals, which take place in front of a film crew, Sébastien’s relationship with Claire, his wife and lead actress, begins to deteriorate.  The situation worsens when he has to replace her in the play with his former mistress.

The film which established the reputation of New Wave director Jacques Rivette is this remarkable four hour epic, a film which says more about the process of film-making than perhaps any other work.   In a similar vein to Jean-Luc Godard’s 1963 masterpiece Le Mépris, the film sets a crumbling marriage within the context of the artificial world of a theatrical production.  As this intimate drama unfolds, it brings in wider societal concerns, reflecting a world of growing insecurity and declining morality.  Despite its length, the film is a compelling work which offers an extraordinarily lucid insight into the relationship between a director and his actors, making this potentially Rivette’s most personally involved piece of cinema.

© James Travers 2002

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