L'amour fou

This article is about the film. For the novel by André Breton see Mad Love. For the episode of The Sopranos, see Amour Fou.

L'amour fou is a 1969 movie directed by Jacques Rivette who also co-wrote the script with Marilù Parolini.

Plot

L'amour fou follows the dissolution of the marriage between Claire, an actress (played by Bulle Ogier), and Sebastien, her director (Jean-Pierre Kalfon). It is black and white with two different film gauges (35 mm and 16 mm) employed at different times throughout the film. The film focuses on a long cycle of self-destruction in Claire and Sebastien's relationship.

The central event in the film's narrative is a three-week period of preparation by a theater group for a production of Racine's version of Andromaque. A crew films the preparations of the theater company in handheld 16 mm, while the rest of the film is shot in 35 mm. This framework allows Rivette to focus on the act of direction, in the formation of an artwork and the dissolution of a relationship.

Significance

The film is pivotal in Rivette's career as a precursor to his vast 12+ hour opus Out 1 which followed two years later.

Cast

• Bulle Ogier - Claire
• Jean-Pierre Kalfon - Sébastien-Pyrrhus
• André S. Labarthe - Le réalisateur
• Josée Destoop - Marta-Hermione
• Dennis Berry - Dennis-Pylade

External links

• L'amour fou at the Internet Movie Database