Céline et Julie vont en bateau
I am finally tackling some more of the Monolith movies! Only like 5 to go… Unfortunately one of them is Satantango, and I may die without ever seeing the movie. Since I had “Céline et Julie” readily available, I felt motivated to see it first.
Despite their very different appearances, it took me for awhile to remember which one of the girls was Céline (dark-haired) and which one was Julie (red-haired). That tells us something about the almost complete lack of characterization of the film. Rivette is not really about characters as much as he is about stories. I barely remember anyone in “Va Savoir” besides the (rather exchangeable) main character and in “La belle noiseuse” I had more interest in Emmanuelle Béart’s butt than what happened between the characters. More than anything, I would say you can describe Céline et Julie both as rather childish – and that’s pretty much it, you don’t need to know much else about them. The magic scene shows us that Céline is ver vy good and Julie is very bad at doing magic tricks. Otherwise even their role in their little story is exchangeable.
Where the movie shines is the Rivette-ness of it – you don’t know what is real, nothing is really explained and everything is left in a gratuitous ambiguity that you cannot really understand, only enjoy. The idea of plunging them into a story they invented (maybe?) and reliving it day after day but changing little bits of it almost sounds like Hong Sang-soo, but it’s entirely different. We can only suspect that Rivette just took a bunch of drugs to produce the movie, just like Céline and Julie seem to be entering their little dream world through rather questionable means as well. This dream world is a silly melodrama involving two women being in love with the same man and a little child caught up in it. It would be a drab story if it wasn’t for Céline and Julie’s intervention, and the girls’ playfulness is certainly addicting. This is one of the most playful films I have ever seen, involving magic, references to Alice in Wonderland and a fun make-believe story that the girls get into. It’s all about imagination. It is the reason why I love “In the mood for love” so much, and while it took awhile for me to get into it, I was drawn to the film’s imagination and the ensuing fun.
The movie also shines through its impeccable style – so stylish that those 70s pants look silly to us. It’s kind of like how Hana Yori Dango (the manga) looks dated to us because everybody goes out of their way to look stylish in that dreadful 80s style. Nevertheless, everything in the film is so immensely beautiful. Have I ever mentioned that I am totally hot for Marie-France Pisier? I thought Colette (the only other role I saw her in) was Antoine Doinel’s cutest girlfriend amongst all of them.
All in all, “Céline et Julie” is a strange film to watch, but if you keep a little distance to whether it all makes sense, it’s unadultered silly fun with a touch of moodiness.