We already noted a French-language trailer for the restoration of Jacques Rivette‘s Out 1: Noli me tangere, but any event of this magnitude deserves the same attention granted so many lesser prospects. Due in no small part to being spread over eight segments and running some 775 minutes, the epic picture — dubbed by Eric Rohmer, himself a cast member, as a “cornerstone in the history of modern cinema” — has finally emerged for all to see in a Carlotta-backed restoration. If you’ve been lucky enough to experience Rivette and know what it all signifies, this is the event of the year.
But readers might be asking, “What the hell are you on about?” Out 1 is set in a post-68 Paris, with a con man (Jean-Pierre Léaud) and shady woman (Juliette Berto) uncovering a secret society looking to enact some sort of conspiracy. The matter of what’s really going on unfolds over nearly 13 hours, with an extended trip into the process of staging Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes and Prometheus Bound obviously included. Rivette’s magnum opus is a lot of movie, but supposedly among the greatest, too.
Watch it below:
Synopsis:
Paris, April 13th 1970. Two theater groups each rehearse avant-garde adaptations of plays by Aeschylus. A young deaf-mute begs for change in cafés while playing the harmonica. A young woman seduces men in order to rob them. As a conspiracy develops, the protagonists’ stories start to intertwine…
Out 1: Noli me tangere will begin its run at New York’s BAMcinématek and continue from there. An extensive Blu-ray set arrives on November 24.