Capital Celluloid 2015 - Day 332: Sat Nov 28

Out 1 (Rivette, 1971): Prince Charles Cinema, 9am

Here is the Prince Charles introduction to this special two-day screening:
The New York Times called it “the cinephile’s holy grail” and Eric Rohmer hailed it as “a cornerstone in the history of modern cinema”. After being impossible to see for many years, A Nos Amours and The Badlands Collective, in collaboration with Arrow Films, are proud to present the UK premiere of the new 2K restoration of Jacques Rivette’s Out 1: Noli me tangere in all its 773-minute glory.

Loosely inspired by Honoré de Balzac’s La Comédie humaine, Out 1: Noli me tangere is an absorbing, multi-stranded epic involving a quest to uncover a secret society in post-May 1968 Paris. Constructed as eight feature length episodes which run over almost 13 hours, it was originally screened just once in its original cut in 1971, with rare subsequent screenings in the ‘90s and ‘00s becoming the stuff of legend in cinema circles. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience this remarkable picture the way it should be seen – beautifully restored on the big screen.

You can find more information on the Badlands Collective Facebook page here.

Chicago Reader review:
An eight-part serial running about 12 and a half hours, this 1971 comedy drama is Rivette's grandest experiment and most exciting adventure in filmmaking. Balzac's History of the Thirteen, about a few Parisians who hope to control the city through their hidden interconnections, inspired its tale, dominated by two theater groups and two solitary individuals. Some of the major actors of the French New Wave participated (Juliet Berto, Francoise Fabian, Bernadette Lafont, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Michel Lonsdale, Bulle Ogier), creating their own characters and improvising their own dialogue, and Rivette juxtaposes their disparate acting styles; acting exercises dominate the first episodes (including one 45-minute take) until fiction gradually and conclusively overtakes the documentary aspect. What emerges is the definitive film about 60s counterculture: its global and conspiratorial fantasies, its euphoric collective utopias, and its descent into solitude, madness, and dissolution.
Jonathan Rosenbaum

Here is Jonathan Romney's long review for Film Comment magazine.
 
Here (and above) is the trailer.