Out 1
Out 1, also known as [Out 1: Noli Me Tangere](/page/Out_1: Noli Me Tangere), is a 1971 French experimental film directed by Jacques Rivette.[1] This monumental 13-hour work, structured as eight episodes, interweaves multiple narratives set in post-May 1968 Paris, centering on two avant-garde theater troupes rehearsing adaptations of Aeschylus's plays, a seductive con artist, and a street performer investigating cryptic messages that suggest a vast conspiracy.[2][3] The film's sprawling plot follows the theater ensemble led by Thomas (Michael Lonsdale), who directs Prometheus Bound, and another group under Renaud (Alain Libolt) preparing The Seven Against Thebes, capturing the improvisational chaos of their rehearsals.[2] Parallel stories track Frédérique (Juliet Berto), a drifter who robs men through seduction, and Colin (Jean-Pierre Léaud), a harmonica-playing performer who deciphers Balzac quotes hinting at a secret society called the Thirteen.[4] These threads converge through chance encounters, exploring interpersonal dynamics and the elusive nature of truth amid societal disillusionment.[1] Rivette, co-writing with Suzanne Schiffman, shot Out 1 in 1970 on affordable 16mm film, emphasizing long takes, self-reflexive improvisation, and a labyrinthine structure that blurs theater, reality, and fiction.[5] Themes of fragmented utopian ideals from the 1960s, conspiracy paranoia, and the performative aspects of life underscore its experimental ethos, making it a profound reflection on modern existence.[2][1] Due to its length, Out 1 premiered only once in 1971 and remained obscure until restorations; a condensed four-hour version, Out 1: Spectre, followed in 1974.[1][6] It has since been hailed as a landmark of avant-garde cinema, earning a 96% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes for its innovative study of human relationships and fading generational dreams.[7]Production
Development
The development of Out 1 emerged in the aftermath of the May 1968 protests in France, capturing a sense of post-revolutionary malaise and communal experimentation in Parisian artistic circles.[8] Jacques Rivette conceived the project as a response to the era's disillusionment, initially envisioning it as an eight-episode television series to explore fragmented social connections and hidden influences in contemporary society.[8] The narrative core drew inspiration from Honoré de Balzac's History of the Thirteen, a collection of novellas depicting a secretive Parisian society manipulating events from the shadows, which Rivette adapted to reflect modern interpersonal and political intrigue.[9][2] Rivette collaborated closely with screenwriter and assistant director Suzanne Schiffman on the project's structure, producing only a loose 30- to 40-page chronology rather than a fixed script, allowing for organic evolution during production.[10] This approach emphasized improvisation as a core method, fostering a communal creative process where actors contributed to character development and scene progression.[11] To achieve this, Rivette cast performers primarily from experimental theater collectives in Paris, including non-professional actors alongside established ones, who rehearsed Aeschylus plays as a foundation for the film's interwoven stories of performance bleeding into real life.[2][11] Building on techniques from his earlier film L'Amour fou (1969), Rivette integrated extended rehearsal sequences to blur boundaries between theater and cinema, using improvisation to document the actors' collaborative dynamics in real time.[12] The initial runtime was targeted at 12 to 13 hours to accommodate this expansive, serial-like format, shot on economical 16mm film stock to enable low-budget flexibility and a raw, documentary-like realism without conventional constraints.[1][13] This pre-production planning prioritized process over predetermined outcomes, reflecting Rivette's interest in cinema as a living, unpredictable endeavor.[11]Filming
The filming of Out 1 took place over a six-week period in the spring of 1970, specifically from April to May, allowing Rivette to capture the vibrant, post-1968 atmosphere of Paris.[10] Principal locations included the city's streets for dynamic chase and pursuit sequences, private apartments to evoke intimate character interactions, and theater rehearsal spaces that grounded the film's exploration of communal performance.[2] This choice of settings emphasized immersive realism, blending staged action with the unplanned energy of urban life, where passersby often became unwitting participants in street scenes.[2] Rivette employed long takes as a core technique, with some sequences extending up to ten minutes—the maximum length of a 16mm reel—to preserve the spontaneity of performances without interruption.[2] The production relied on portable 16mm equipment, including large film magazines that enabled extended shooting without frequent reloads, facilitating a documentary-like fluidity in capturing movement through Paris.[10] Natural lighting predominated, particularly in exterior and interior scenes, to maintain an unpolished, immediate aesthetic that mirrored the film's improvisational ethos.[14] The improvisational approach defined the shoot, with over three dozen actors developing their characters and scenes collaboratively on-site, guided loosely by Rivette and co-writer Suzanne Schiffman rather than a fixed script.[15] This process yielded approximately 30 hours of raw 16mm footage, which was later edited down to the final 773-minute runtime, requiring careful selection to weave disparate threads into a cohesive yet open-ended narrative.[11] Actors like Jean-Pierre Léaud and Juliet Berto contributed to scene evolution in real time, often drawing from theater exercises inspired by Aeschylus, which added layers of unpredictability to the material.[14] Technical challenges arose from the single-camera setup, which limited coverage options and demanded precise timing for complex ensemble interactions without the safety net of multiple angles.[16] Managing a large cast without formal rehearsals proved demanding, as Rivette's method encouraged organic group dynamics but risked inconsistencies in pacing and focus during extended takes.[11] For street sequences, the crew sometimes concealed the camera to avoid alerting non-professional participants, heightening the logistical strain of maintaining continuity in public spaces.[2] On-set dynamics reflected Rivette's collaborative directing style, fostering a workshop-like environment where actors shared in creative decisions, blurring lines between direction and performance.[14] This approach, rooted in theater improvisation, allowed for spontaneous adjustments but occasionally led to intense, unresolved tensions among the ensemble, mirroring the film's themes of fractured collectivity.[15] Real-time events, such as unexpected interactions with the environment or shifts in actor energy, were embraced rather than corrected, contributing to the raw vitality of the footage.[2]Plot
Overview
Out 1, directed by Jacques Rivette, is a 1971 French experimental film structured as an eight-episode serial with a total runtime of 12 hours and 45 minutes. Set in post-1968 Paris, it follows two parallel theater troupes engaged in avant-garde rehearsals of Aeschylus's plays: one group, led by Thomas, works on Prometheus Bound, while the other, led by Lili, rehearses Seven Against Thebes. These improvisational sessions capture the troupes' internal dynamics and communal experiments in performance, reflecting the era's artistic ferment.[16][15] The narrative interweaves these rehearsals with the investigations of two outsider figures: Colin, a street busker who poses as a deaf-mute while playing the harmonica, and Frédérique, a con artist specializing in blackmail. Colin begins deciphering cryptic messages that point to a secret society known as "The Thirteen," inspired by Balzac's History of the Thirteen, while Frédérique stumbles upon stolen letters that draw her into the same web of intrigue. Their pursuits lead to encounters with intellectuals, writers, and performers, sparking subplots of personal betrayals, hidden retreats to a country house, and growing paranoia within overlapping social circles.[2][15][16] Across the episodes, slow-building interconnections emerge between the troupes and the outsiders' quests, creating a mosaic of fragmented lives and elusive connections. The film culminates in dispersed resolutions, with characters parting ways amid lingering mysteries, emphasizing the serial's open-ended progression without tidy closure. Each episode builds episodically, often recapping prior events through still images to guide the sprawling ensemble narrative.[16][2]Themes
Out 1 explores themes of conspiracy and paranoia set against the backdrop of post-1968 France, where the film's central plot device draws from Honoré de Balzac's Histoire des Treize to evoke a secret society of thirteen members influencing events, yet subverts this literary model by revealing the conspiracy as illusory and emblematic of failed communal ideals from the May 1968 uprisings.[2][15][17] This paranoia manifests through characters' investigations into cryptic signs and connections, mirroring the era's disillusionment with revolutionary politics and the fragmentation of utopian aspirations.[16][18] Rather than affirming a cohesive hidden order, the narrative critiques how such delusions highlight the collapse of collective dreams into individual suspicion and societal distrust.[2][15] A core theme is the interplay between performance and reality, as the film's theater rehearsals—centered on Aeschylus's plays—seamlessly bleed into characters' personal lives, questioning the authenticity of art, relationships, and self-expression.[18][19] Rivette's use of improvisation allows actors to inhabit roles that extend beyond the stage, blurring boundaries and suggesting that life itself becomes a perpetual, unresolved rehearsal devoid of clear distinction between enactment and existence.[2][17] This motif underscores a philosophical inquiry into how performative acts shape identity, often leading to emotional and relational instability rather than genuine connection.[18][16] The film delves into isolation and communication breakdown, exemplified by the deaf-mute beggar Colin's cryptic gestures and the overall fragmented dialogues that hinder meaningful exchange among characters.[18][17] These elements portray a Paris rife with disconnection, where attempts at interaction dissolve into misunderstanding or silence, amplifying the existential solitude of post-1968 urban life.[19][15] Colin's pantomime, in particular, symbolizes the barriers to articulation, extending to broader societal failures in fostering dialogue after the era's political upheavals.[18][2] Out 1 offers a critique of intellectual elites and the waning of utopian dreams, depicting loosely connected groups of artists and thinkers as remnants of 1960s idealism now mired in petty intrigues and escapism.[16][15] Motifs of islands recur as symbols of retreat, representing both desired isolation from a corrupt mainland society and the ultimate failure of communal harmony, as characters seek refuge in remote, self-contained worlds that prove untenable.[2] This portrayal satirizes the Parisian avant-garde's detachment, highlighting how post-1968 euphoria has curdled into cynical withdrawal and unfulfilled promises of transformation.[18][16] At its heart lies existential ambiguity, with the narrative culminating in dissolution rather than revelation, aligning with Rivette's affinity for incomplete, open-ended structures that resist closure.[19][17] The film's prolonged, meandering form suspends meaning, inviting viewers to confront the void of unresolved mysteries and the futility of seeking definitive truths in art or life.[15][18] This approach reflects a philosophical stance on contingency and process, where endings evoke not answers but the ongoing flux of human endeavor.[2][17]Cast and Characters
Principal Cast
The principal cast of Out 1 features a core group of French New Wave-affiliated actors who bring authenticity to the film's sprawling ensemble dynamics. Leading the performers are Jean-Pierre Léaud as Colin, a street musician and amateur detective posing as a deaf-mute to solicit tarot readings from passersby; Juliet Berto as Frédérique, a cunning pickpocket navigating Paris's underbelly in search of clues to a shadowy conspiracy; Michèle Moretti as Lili, the intense director of the theater troupe rehearsing Aeschylus's Seven Against Thebes[]; Michael Lonsdale as Thomas, the introspective leader of the theater group working on a modern adaptation of Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound[]; and Bulle Ogier as Émilie (also known as Pauline), a enigmatic figure tied to the film's secretive society, The Thirteen.[2][16] Léaud, an iconic figure of the French New Wave since his breakout role as the troubled adolescent Antoine Doinel in François Truffaut's The 400 Blows (1959), infuses Colin with restless energy drawn from his extensive collaborations with New Wave directors like Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard.[20] Berto, a frequent collaborator with Jacques Rivette across films like L'Amour fou (1969), Céline and Julie Go Boating (1974), and Duelle (1976), embodies Frédérique's outsider ferocity through her background in experimental cinema and theater.[21] Moretti, known for her theater work and prior roles in Rivette's L'Amour fou, channels Lili's commanding presence as a troupe leader, highlighting her roots in avant-garde performance.[16] Lonsdale, a British-French actor with a distinguished stage career beginning in 1955 and extensive work in French theater and film, lends Thomas a philosophical depth informed by his dramatic training. Ogier, another Rivette mainstay appearing in seven of his films from L'Amour fou to 36 Views from the Pic Saint-Loup (2009), contributes to the ensemble's intricate interplay as Émilie, drawing on her reputation for subtle, multifaceted portrayals in New Wave and post-New Wave cinema.[22] Beyond these leads, the film boasts a credited ensemble of over 20 actors, predominantly theater practitioners from Paris's experimental scene, supplemented by non-professionals in minor roles to enhance the improvisational, documentary-like texture of the production.[16][2] This mix underscores Rivette's emphasis on collective performance, with one sentence noting the cast's reliance on improvisational techniques during the extended shoot to develop scenes organically.[16]| Actor | Role | Key Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Jean-Pierre Léaud | Colin | New Wave icon bringing youthful intensity to the conspiracy probe.[20] |
| Juliet Berto | Frédérique | Rivette regular embodying the pickpocket's resourceful edge.[21] |
| Michèle Moretti | Lili | Theater veteran directing the Aeschylus rehearsals with fervor.[2] |
| Michael Lonsdale | Thomas | Stage-trained performer guiding the Prometheus troupe's explorations. |
| Bulle Ogier | Émilie/Pauline | Ensemble anchor in society intrigue scenes.[16] |