Rating: 
Summary: Rivette's third in the nineties
Review: I've seen five Rivette features from the 90's, and along with La Belle Noiseuse and Up/Down/Fragile, I think this one ranks along side his best work--that from the seventies and late sixties. It is a serious movie, made in a time when I've come to expect more of his lighter side all to often (but what a great light side!). In Secret Defense ("Top Secret" in french) we get hints at what his great conspiracy movies of the seventies might be like (OUT 1 and OUT 1: Spectre), as with this movie the level of uncertainty--real uncertainty, not just a playful, feigned kind of uncertainty--is phenomenally powerful. What would the thriller genre be like if the levels of one's knowledge and comfort as a viewer were reduced to those levels present in Secret Defense--not too high, or a tad above "just enough?" Well, for me, this movie shows how you don't need fast-paced action or the commotion of a roller-coaster ride to feel at the edge of your seat. And it goes much farther: this ride can have long-term after effects (even if it is not on the level of his work in the 70's) which a simple roller-caoster can't faithfully supply. In the domain of fictional reality--fiction with the weight of reality--Rivette remains the master.
Rating: 
Summary: Fell asleep twice
Review: It took me three session to finish this movie, because I fell asleep twice.
The DVD title says "... Revenge was the only answer ...". The movie provides no compelling reason why.
This movie is excruitingly slow, pointless anti-climatic.
Rating:
Summary: Fell asleep twice
Review: It took me three session to finish this movie, because I fell asleep twice.
The DVD title says "... Revenge was the only answer ...". The movie provides no compelling reason why.
This movie is excruitingly slow, pointless anti-climatic.
Rating:
Summary: Fell asleep twice
Review: It took me three session to finish this movie, because I fell asleep twice.
The DVD title says "... Revenge was the only answer ...". The movie provides no compelling reason why.
This movie is excruitingly slow, pointless anti-climatic.
Rating:
Summary: Fell asleep twice
Review: It took me three sessions to finish this movie, because I fell asleep twice.
The DVD title says "... Revenge was the only answer ...". The movie provides no compelling reason why.
This movie is excruciatingly slow, pointless and anti-climatic.
Rating:
Summary: Fell asleep twice
Review: It took me three sessions to finish this movie, because I fell asleep twice.
The DVD title says "... Revenge was the only answer ...". The movie provides no compelling reason why.
This movie is excruciatingly slow, pointless and anti-climatic.
Rating:
Summary: Fell asleep twice
Review: It took me three sessions to finish this movie, because I fell asleep twice.
The DVD title says "... Revenge was the only answer ...". The movie provides no compelling reason why.
This movie is excruciatingly slow, pointless and anti-climatic.
Rating: 
Summary: Fine Rivette
Review: Jacques Rivette has made a career based on longer films and this one is no exception; it's 2 1/2 hours long. But here there is a thriller-based plot to drive it and he fuses a thriller's momentum with extremely well thought out psychological elements.The main character is a woman biologist played perfectly by Sandrine Bonnaire, one of the best contemporary French actresses. She leads a quiet solitary life which is dramatically interrupted when her brother bursts into her office one day and tells her that their father's death was no accident--as they supposed--but instead a murder committed by the father's business partner. The complications that follow are all underscored by a focus on the lead character's psychology as she interacts with her brother, the business partner, her mother, and the partner's girlfriend. There are definite surprises and the ending is a powerful one. While there are some moments here and there of drag, they are not that much in evidence and the story is strong and compelling; you could say this is riveting Rivette. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Fine Rivette
Review: Jacques Rivette has made a career based on longer films and this one is no exception; it's 2 1/2 hours long. But here there is a thriller-based plot to drive it and he fuses a thriller's momentum with extremely well thought out psychological elements. The main character is a woman biologist played perfectly by Sandrine Bonnaire, one of the best contemporary French actresses. She leads a quiet solitary life which is dramatically interrupted when her brother bursts into her office one day and tells her that their father's death was no accident--as they supposed--but instead a murder committed by the father's business partner. The complications that follow are all underscored by a focus on the lead character's psychology as she interacts with her brother, the business partner, her mother, and the partner's girlfriend. There are definite surprises and the ending is a powerful one. While there are some moments here and there of drag, they are not that much in evidence and the story is strong and compelling; you could say this is riveting Rivette. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: slow moving but compelling psychological thriller
Review: Rivette is not known for his brevity, not in recent years anyway. His films take patience but their momentum builds almost indiscernably to a final effect which is powerful and ultimately your pateince and attentiveness is rewarded. Rivette films are for true lovers of French films as his films meditate on life like paintings meditate on life. Action, there is barely any. This film has been referred to as a thriller and the picture on the front cover of the DVD would lead you to believe this is a thriller but that is kind of misleading as what really is being explored here is the psychological naunces of one character in particular and that character is played by Bonnaire. There is a central mystery which is the "secret" of the story but the "secret" remains so unitil the very end. And though the secret is surprising it is somewhat inconsequential. For the real power of the film is in the cumulative effect of all those scenes where Bonnaire has no idea what is driving her and making her act. It is this strange aesthetic which explains the films appeal which is great. Rivette lingers on Bonnaire who often is doing very little but riding a train or looking out a window or looking at a painting or walking through a house but there is a power in the way Rivette frames his shots. He makes very painterly compositions and his characters occupy these compositions one frame at a time, unable to see the larger picture, unable to see or judge their own actions with any authority. Insight, when it comes, comes too late. It is a film which you will watch and lose maybe a little patience with at times but its spell is a strong one and the more you think on it the more you begin to appreciate just how well the picture does what it does. Excellent film for meditative viewers who like to think while they watch.
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