La belle noiseuse

Directed by Jacques Rivette

Not Rated

September 4, 1991 3h 58m Box Office: $403KDrama

7.5100%82%7.2

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The former famous painter Frenhofer lives quietly with his wife on a countryside residence in the French Provence. When the young artist Nicolas visits him with his girlfriend Marianne, Frenhofer decides to start again the work on a painting he long ago stopped: La Belle Noiseuse. And he wants Marianne as model.

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Cast of La belle noiseuse

Michel PiccoliEdouard Frenhofer
Emmanuelle BéartMarianne
Jane BirkinLiz
Marianne DenicourtJulienne
David BurszteinNicolas
Gilles ArbonaPorbus
Marie BellucMagali
Marie-Claude RogerFrançoise
Leïla RemiliLa servante
Daphne GoodfellowUne touriste
Susan RobertsonUne touriste / Key Makeup Artist
Bernard DufourLa main du peintre
Jacques RivetteDirector / Screenplay
Pascal BonitzerScreenplay
Honoré de BalzacNovel
Martine MarignacProducer
Maurice TinchantAssociate Producer
Emmanuel de ChauvignyProduction Design
William LubtchanskyDirector Of Photography
Laurence StruzCostume Design
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La belle noiseuse Ratings & Reviews

MikeOctober 11, 2024
The Beautiful Troublemaker is an enthralling film that is as much about the painting as it is not "Ten years ago that painting was the beginning of a story. But now it's not a new beginning... It's the end..." I did not expect to be so enthralled by a 4 hour film about a painting, but here we are. On the surface this is a very plain and simple film that would even bore most people if it was just 90 minutes long. It is underneath the surface where this film shines. The entire plot is about the creation of a painting but the film is not just about that. It is about so much more than simply putting ink on a canvas with the use of pencils and brushes. My initial thoughts were that the paintings don't look good and should not be considered as art. But throughout the 4 hour runtime it got me thinking... art isn't about creating something pretty or beautiful to look at. If this was the case you could consider pretty looking A.I. generated images as art. What differentiates us from A.I. is that we have emotions, free will, motivations, memories and personality. Art isn't about creating something that looks pretty, it is about creating something with meaning behind it—a story consciously and subconsciously told by the artist. Art is a manifestation of everything that makes the artist human. Not only is this manifestation the connection between you and the story, that is consciously and subconsciously told by the artist... but the story is also the connection between you and the manifestation. This realization is why the ending worked so well for me. During the film the painter was looking for different styles and the paintings became progressively more abstract but they did become more meaningful. The painter cared less about creating something pretty and more about creating something meaningful. In the end the painting did exactly what it was supposed to do; Evoke different reactions and opinions from multiple people. For Marianne the painting was also a self-reflection, as if she was looking in a mirror. No objective result, just subjective impact. This is what makes The Beautiful Troublemaker so interesting. The process of creating the painting reflects the life of the painter and everyone involved in it. Especially his relationship with his wife, Liz, is deeply involved with the creation of the painting and reflected onto the painting. I would even go as far as saying that every single person in the film is involved in the creation of the painting, whether it be directly or indirectly. Every person the painter has come across with is either consciously or subconsciously stored in his mind. Besides that, the people that he didn't come across with still influenced the people that he did come across with. Read full review at Letterboxd: Mike_v_E

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