Julien lives alone with his cat. He dreams of Marie, and a few minutes later, he sees her on the street and makes a date. He asks her to move in with him, and she does. Her boyfriend is dead, the rest of her past a mystery. Although they quickly seem to fall in love, she sometimes pulls away suddenly from Julien, is distant, and spends the night in a hotel. She also dreads something imminent and warns Julien that if he missteps, he will lose her and all memory of her. Julien responds by digging into her past: what explains her remodeling an upstairs garret room, her nightly dreams, her fears? What can Julien, now desperately in love, do when he learns why? Can either rescue the other?





Perhaps the greatest indicator of Rivette's mastery of filmmaking is that, while the picture's narrative elements are organized to serve the plot, they also serve the director's thematic preoccupations. The Story of Marie and Julien is about romantic longing, the impermanence of time, and the precariousness of personal identity. In this way, it is directly related to La Belle Noiseusse, though this time Rivette adds ruminations on death to his other thematic explorations. The relationship between Marie and Julien is one of simultaneous connection and isolation. It is a paradox of their relationship that the duo love one another passionately, but are ostensibly strangers. Their interaction with one another becomes the catalyst for self-discovery, but the lovers remain islands, alone together. A similar dynamic exists between Frenhofer and Marianne in La Belle Noiseusse, though this time the relationship is sexual whereas in the earlier film it was purely artistic.

It is Rivette's focus on the scarring effects of time that opens the door for the picture's supernatural elements and makes them thematically resonant. That Julien is a clocksmith always struggling, in effect, to repair time, seems like an obvious metaphor when writing about the film. In one line of dialogue, he observes to Marie that old clocks are larger than new ones, that things become smaller as they progress through time. He even has a cat named Nevermore, evoking Poe's "The Raven," and its focus on lost love, death, and longing. Because of the film's two-and-a-half hour running time, all of these elements—seemingly ham-fisted when written about in a review—play with an unexpected subtlety and delicacy. Rivette's film aren't lengthy because he's undisciplined, but because he gives himself the time necessary to produce the sort of thematic density he seeks. All elements of his sprawling film resonate with each other intellectually, emotionally, and viscerally, while notably avoiding concrete statements of theme. Those seeking a cinematic change of pace will find The Story of Marie and Julien—like so many of Rivette's films—evocative and poetic. It is not only intelligent, but willing to assume the same of its audience. (DVD Verdict)





Historia de Marie y Julien
Julien (Jerzy Radziwilowicz) comparte su tiempo entre el oficio de arreglar los mecanismos de antiguos relojes y el chantaje que efectúa a una misteriosa Madame X (Anne Brochet) al hilo de una serie de documentos que han llegado a sus manos y que delatarían la implicación de ésta en un asunto de tráfico de antigüedades y en una extraña muerte. Un día, por azar, reencuentra a Marie (Emmanuelle Béart), mujer deseada que había quedado fijada en su memoria. Tras una serie de encuentros, Marie se traslada a casa de Julien para iniciar una difícil convivencia, determinada, de un lado, por la extraña conducta de Marie y, del otro, por la evolución del chantaje de Julien, cuyo proceso comparte con Marie. Ambas tramas resultarán estar más relacionadas de lo que en principio parece. (intermedio.net)



Julien est un horloger d'une quarantaine d'années, qui vit dans un quotidien morne et gris. Il s'ennuie et occupe son temps comme il peut. Il recroise le chemin de Marie, jeune femme qu'il avait rencontrée un an auparavant et avec qui il n'avait rien pu vivre à ce moment-là. Ils étaient tous les deux "pris". Commence alors entre eux une vraie histoire d'amour, mais Julien est intrigué par le comportement de Marie, qui semble de plus en plus étrangère à certaines sensations de la vie... Julien est d'autant plus intrigué que sa dulcinée est liée à Madame X, une riche femme d'affaires qu'il fait chanter pour de l'argent. Cette dernière est en effet au cœur d'un trafic de faux tissus anciens. Julien est bien décidé à en savoir plus... (cineclubdecaen.com)





История Мари и Жюльена
75-летний классик французской "новой волны" еще раз подтвердил, что был и остается несравненным мастером подтекстов, пауз, нюансов и намеков. "История Мари и Жюльена" - длинная, как всегда у Риветта, и загадочная история любви немолодого часовщика (Ежи Радзивилович) и странной молодой женщины (Эммануэль Беар).





jzjzj