L’amour fou could very well be the masterpiece it’s been deemed for 55 years, but almost nobody could see a version that, put simply, looked any good. A long-passed-around VHS that became a single bootleg file is no way to experience anything by Jacques Rivette, the greatest of New Wave directors, but the English-subtitled print that circulated (and which I saw in 2015) didn’t hold up much better. So it can only be one of the year’s great happenings that L’amour fou‘s been restored at all; it’s doubly great that North American distribution’s handled by Janus Films and portends an inevitable Criterion release.
Ahead of the restoration’s U.S. debut at Lincoln Center on October 20, a new trailer is here and even with streaming compression, Les Films du Losange’s restoration (overseen by the great Caroline Champetier) is a revelation. Envy being among the seven deadly sins, I won’t say what feeling I––who once travelled hours to see a beat-up print and felt just a bit let-down––have towards anybody seeing L’amour fou fresh.
Find the preview and poster below:
During the rehearsals for the production of the tragedy Andromaque, the leading actress and her director, a couple behind the scenes, can’t find a way to leave their personal problems at home. And life imitates fiction, creating a real tragedy for this couple when the man finds comfort with other women while the actress prefers to stay focused on her work, as if nothing is happening with her partner.
