Out 1: Nolie me Tangere (1971) - film review

Out 1: Nolie me Tangere is a French comedy thriller film first released in 1971, directed by Jacques Rivette and Suzanne Schiffman.  The film stars Michèle Moretti, Hermine Karagheuz, Karen Puig, Pierre Baillot and Marcel Bozonnet.  Our overall rating for this film is: excellent.

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Out 1 is like a more avant-garde Thomas Pynchon, or Honoré de Balzac on drugs. A true piece of art, it’s unpredictable, a darkly epic tragedy one moment, and a hysterically unsettling comedy the next. This pantheon of a film creates it’s own trippy, jagged landscape, laws and time. Its symbolic insanity creates a confusing, enigmatic, experimental ride that lasts thirteen hours. It may call for some coffee and blankets for some, but for those who truly love films, you’ll find a massive, tremendous and complicated masterpiece to enjoy.
 
There is no way to explain this electrifying film. Jacques Rivette (the director) and Suzanne Schiffman, inspired by Honoré de Balzac, came up with nothing but a scenario. They rounded up the most talented actors of the French New Wave, and then let them improvise the next 13 hours, with nothing but that scenario. The result? An otherworldy, bizarre fairy tale, juxtaposing interweaving lives and social classes, told through a hallucinogenic roller coaster of madness, forming a sort of cinematic post-modern architecture.
 
This is definitely the most experimental (and one of the best) films of the French New Wave. Rivette’s twelve and a half hour magnum opus has gained fame (and notoriety) for it’s length and rarity. It’s truly a miracle to witness, and possibly one of the greatest experimental works of art, of any kind, of the 20th century. Experimental films may never be the same again, and you may never look at films in the same way either.


© Aaron, Canada 2008

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