Jacques Rivette - 1958-1966: Early Film Career

1958-1966: Early Film Career

In the late fifties, Rivette began work on his feature film debut, Paris nous appartient (Paris belongs to us). After having a script rejected by Roberto Rossellini in 1957, Rivette and collaborator Jean Gruault revised their story based on Rossellini's criticisms and wrote a new film. Using borrowed equipment, a loan of 80,000 francs from Cahiers du Cinéma and short ends of film stock provided by Chabrol, the film was shot without sound in the summer of 1958, then post-synched and edited in 1959. Rivette could not find a distributor until 1961 and it was neither a commercial nor critical success. Despite being the first of his friends to begin work on a feature film, he was the last of the core members of the French New Wave (Chabrol, Truffaut, Godard and Rohmer) to have his feature film debut distributed. At the 1959 Cannes Film Festival Truffaut and Chabrol decided to use their newfound success to help Rivette finish Paris belongs to us.

The labyrinthine plot of Paris belongs to us' tells the story of Anne (Betty Schneider), a young Parisian student who, while rehearsing for a production of Shakespeare's Pericles, has to deal with the sudden death of the play's composer, a missing tape recording of the play's musical score, a secret society seeking world domination, an eccentric American journalist who may or may not be the one making the entire film up as it happens, the suicide of the play's producer and the mysterious death of her brother. Chabrol, Godard, Jacques Demy, and Rivette all appear in minor roles.

Rivette's second feature film was La Religieuse (The Nun), based on the novel by Denis Diderot. After directing a stage version in 1963, Rivette and collaborator Gruault worked on the script for three years, having to rewrite it three times in order to get approval by the French censors. Finally completed in 1966, the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. But because of the subject matter the French Ministry of Information blocked the films release for over a year on moral grounds. The publicity helped turn it into Rivette's only hit film. It is considered Rivette's most conventional and accessible film.

The Nun stars Anna Karina as Suzanne Simonin, young French woman forced into a convent by her cruel family. After causing a scandal by refusing to take her vows at the strict convent, she is physically and psychologically tortured by both the nuns and her family. She attempts to persevere and escape from the convent all while dealing with her hateful mother, the empathetic mother superior of the convent, a usually absent lawyer, a lesbian nun and a sympathetic (but lustful) monk.

Rivette then created a series of documentaries on director Jean Renoir for the French television series Cinéastes de notre temps, which aired in 1966 under the title Jean Renoir, The Master.