La Belle Noiseuse (1991)

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Relationship rich, this story revolves around a young couple who's man, Nicolas, agrees to let his woman, Marianne, be the nude model for a friend's hopeless and hapless attempt to make his long sought masterpiece he was unable to finish 10 years ago. Nicolas' relationships with the painter, the painter's wife (Liz), Marianne and later his sister are affected and deteriorate. Meanwhile the painter and his subject become entranced in an artistic and metaphysical dance.Relationship with the painter and his wife slowly unravels until it explodes. Will it stabilize or severe their bond? Also the interplay between the painter's wife and Nicolas, the painter's wife and Marianne, Marianne and her sister-in-law, etc. are all exquisitely explored with tense writing, intimate and beautiful cinematography as well as daring directing.At almost 4 hours and divided into two parts, the first part focuses on process of painting (and can be painful for limited attention-span people) while the second part reveals the fleeting purpose and puts people, art and life in context. The images and words are hard not to remain with you after viewing and sense of increase sensitivities to living. The screenplay is sublime with sparks of genius, genuine life glimpses and poetic prowess. Transfixion, transformation, transgression...Jacques Rivette has made his masterpiece regardless if his protagonist did or not. The subtext and unanswered questions add to the mystery.Life naked, complex, like the model or actress. Beautiful. Art is born.

This film is for your "right" brain. If you have the patience to be attentive throughout this extraordinarily long film (the nearly 4-hr version), you will absorb a glimpse into the "creative process." Not to be "hoity-toity" about this matter, but this is truly a masterpiece of a glimpse into the creative process of a great artist, his relationship with his subject, and the final disposition of the result of their collaboration.And he could have no better subject for his study of the human form than the ethereal physical perfection of Emmanuelle Béart - not to take anything away from her expertise as an actor.This is a contest - one to which both Piccoli and Béart are more than equal.Find the time. Sit back and relax. Get a drink or two, if you must. but PAY ATTENTION! Opportunities like this don't come along very often.

In his four hour drama La Belle Noiseuse, French filmmaker Jacques Rivette has painted a haunting portrayal of an artist, a model, and the effects that a work can have on those involved. It is a brave piece of film-making, featuring physical and emotional openness. The film moves very slowly, but is very much worth watching. La Belle Noiseuse allows us to watch the creation of a piece of art and how it can change a person. This is a true accomplishment. The actors are all very much on key and, with no real script, provide real and believable dialogue. Rivette paints these characters in a very human way: it's easy to imagine these people existing. There are no movie tricks. It's a truly naked film in that it offers such an intimate look into the hearts of the main characters. Anytime a film can do this, you know it's something special.La Belle Noiseuse revolves around two couples. Marianne and Nicolas are a young couple. Nicolas is an artist and has been invited to take a look at the studio of Frenhofer, a once revered and respected painter who has given up his art. While discussing a painting that Frenhofer never finished – the "La Belle Noiseuse" – Nicolas suggests that Frenhofer use Marianne as his model. Frenhofer agrees. However, Marianne is not very happy about this. She arrives at the studio very disheartened. As Frenhofer draws and paints her, the two of them get to know each other. Marianne's resentment falls away and she becomes more open with Frenhofer, doing as he says, asking him questions, posing how he'd like. Frenhofer wants to dig deeper. As a painter, he feels the need to really capture the essence of his model. His wife, Liz, was his last model. As a result of this need to dig deeper, he was forced to either give up painting or give up his wife. The film spends much of its four hour running time in the studio with Marianne and Frenhofer. Otherwise, there are scenes with Frenhofer and Liz, as well as with Liz and Nicolas, and Marianne and Nicolas, who are growing apart by the day.For those who can endure the extreme running time, La Belle Noiseuse is a fascinating film to watch. The characters, as I said before, are very real. Much of the film features Marianne (played by the lovely Emmanuelle Beart) posing nude. It's a bold performance for the actress, who must bear her soul as well as her body in order for the performance to be effective. She is absolutely wonderful, as is Michel Piccoli as the bitter painter. The only problem I have with the film is not that it's so long, but that much of it focuses on the drawing. There are five and ten minute scenes where the audience watches Frenhofer sketch and paint. It's fascinating at first, but eventually becomes a bit tedious. This should not steer anyone away, though. Anyone who can appreciate slow moving character studies should be fine.To sum up, I would recommend La Belle Noiseuse. However, a person should probably know what they are getting into prior to watching. The film is not for everyone. It takes patience to enjoy, but for those who can, it is very rewarding. Jacques Rivette is a truly revolutionary director. The other film I've seen from him, Celine and Julie Go Boating, is just as wonderful as La Belle Noiseuse, but is in a completely different universe. He is a very versatile, unique, and underrated director. La Belle Noiseuse shows this. It's a beautiful film.9/10

It's incomprehensible why anyone would hazard the making of this movie. As a wonderful tour of a classic French farm house, and the creation of every artists' ideal of the perfect French artist's studio it's perfect. Otherwise it's a self important, arty disaster - even though that certainly isn't the opinion of virtually every "external review" I read. If it's French, dares to be 4 hours long, and deals with A R T it must be a masterpiece. The artist used for the endless exploratory sketches is embarrassingly bad and the final showing of "the masterpiece" (or at least the one we get to see and not the one bricked into the studio wall)is such bad art and such an anti-climax that the camera lingers on it only as long as it's forced to.Beart demonstrates what every art school student learns in their first life drawing class: that the nude human body is beautiful and when presented naturally is devoid of all the contrived sexiness that our society layers on it.If the painting and drawing had been talented and exciting, the pace picked up and the actors given some clearer roles that they could inhabit, the wonderful ambiance of the house and the studio would not have been wasted.