Out 1: Noli me Tangere (1971)
Directed by Jacques Rivette, Suzanne Schiffman

Film Review

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.

Film Synopsis

In Paris in the late 1960s, two theatrical companies are immersed in rehearsing performances of two well-known works by the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus - Prometheus Bound and Seven Against Thebes.  It is a protracted and strenuous ordeal, but gradually both projects start to take shape, thanks to the persistence of the director and stamina of the cast.  Meanwhile, not far away, a deaf and mute young man named Colin discovers the existence of a secret society.  Intrigued, and with nothing better to occupy him, the young man sets about trying to find the thirteen members of this strange society...