Celine and Julie Go Boating DVD

Coming up with a description of what David Thomson called ‘the most radical and delightful narrative film since Citizen Kane’ is a task fraught with potential peril. Is it a slapstick comedy? A female buddy movie? A simultaneous tribute to the very different worlds of Lewis Carroll and Henry James? A self-reflexive essay on the act of critically analysing a film? A rhapsodic love letter to Paris? It's all these and more, cramming its three-hour-plus running time with a veritable encyclopaedia of allusions, puns and unexpected diversions including conjuring acts and musical numbers (though no actual boating scenes: the slang term in the original French title - vont en bateau - actually means ‘to go crazy’).
Brunette magician Céline and red-headed librarian Julie meet one balmy (and barmy) summer's day in Montmartre and become firm friends, swapping stories, fantasies, clothes and even Julie's hapless suitor before joining forces (with the aid of magic sweets) to investigate the apparently haunted house at 7 bis, rue du Nadir aux Pommes, where a love triangle-cum-murder mystery is playing out in a seemingly infinite loop. Rivette somehow keeps everything hanging together while simultaneously creating the impression that Céline and Julie are making it all up as they go along: few films with such a heavyweight arthouse reputation are quite this breezily playful. Even some unintentional humour caused by the passage of time (not so much the hippie-chic fashions as Céline's seemingly genuine delight at the news that she may be touring Beirut and Baghdad) seems part of the overall game plan. A repertory staple for two decades, Rivette's most enduringly popular film has been hard to see in recent years, making this release doubly welcome. It comes in a sparkling new transfer, and is accompanied by a copiously illustrated video introduction and two imaginatively-chosen short films.

Michael Brooke on 14th September 2006
Author of 135 reviews