Obviously, "Va Savoir", like most of Jacques Rivette's films, is not a film for the masses. On the other hand, fans of the work of Mr. Rivette will enjoy this work for its own merits.
The director gives us a play within a play. We are invited to watch as an Italian theater company is rehearsing Luigi Pirandello's "Come tu mi voui", or "As You Desire Me" for the Paris engagement. The Pirandello text has a lot to do with one sees on the stage, a ploy that doesn't come across for most viewers. The theatrical production of this 1930 play is a bit over the top for out taste, as scenes are played backward on stage and we are taken to see it. Also, being a theatrical production we watch being performed, it is played with a different intensity than the rest of the film.
Camille and Ugo are lovers. She had left Pierre, a French philosophy professor, and went to Italy, where she settled. Camille's relationship with Ugo is going through some rough moments, no doubt caused by her return to Paris and nerves from the play she is the leading lady. Ugo, who also acts in the play, is determined to find a rare Carlo Goldoni's play, "Il Destino Veneziano", which might have been written in Paris in the eighteenth century.
A few days after the opening, Camille goes to a park where she knows she will find Pierre, a man whose habits take him to the same places all the time. The encounter goes well, but we can see that he is still in love with her. Pierre is now married to the beautiful Sonia, who is a dance instructor. Camille had left Pierre three years ago, but for him, it appears as though it was yesterday. It's obvious that for Camille everything is over, yet, Pierre seems to hope it isn't so.
Ugo, on the other hand, is referred to contact someone who is a descendant of the man who helped Goldoni during his stay in Paris two hundred years before. What he discovers is a mother who is willing to give him access to the library, and just by coincidence, she is the mother of Dominique, who he had met at a library where both were doing research. It's clear from the start that Ugo likes the young woman and she, in turn, likes him also.
The first two hours of the film drag a bit, and could have used some editing in putting things into a different perspective. The last half hour makes more sense as all the different conflicts come to a head and the film becomes alive, especially the funny 'duel' between Ugo and Pierre at the theater. Also, Camille's ability to rescue Sonia's valuable ring from her lover, serves to perk the action.
What it's not immediately clear is the connection among all the characters we meet. Rivette doesn't help things in explaining some of the liaisons have been forged, especially between Arthur, Do's brother, and Sonia, but we have seen the clue as he is seen spying on her ballet class. Also, the Pirandello play, which we see every now and then, doesn't clarify things.
Much has been said in this forum about Jeanne Balibar's Camille. She goes through a whole range of emotions in the film in a nuanced performance. Sergio Castellitto, one of the best Italian actors working in movies these days, is perfect as Ugo. He can be intense, vain, or playful, yet he doesn't stray from betraying Camille. Helene de Fougerolles is a beautiful young actress who makes a lot out of her Do. Marianne Basler is seen as Sonia and Jacques Bonnaffe plays Pierre well.
"Va Savoir" will be quickly dismissed by the audiences that are not prepared to go along for the trip that Jacques Rivette invites us to take with him.
The director gives us a play within a play. We are invited to watch as an Italian theater company is rehearsing Luigi Pirandello's "Come tu mi voui", or "As You Desire Me" for the Paris engagement. The Pirandello text has a lot to do with one sees on the stage, a ploy that doesn't come across for most viewers. The theatrical production of this 1930 play is a bit over the top for out taste, as scenes are played backward on stage and we are taken to see it. Also, being a theatrical production we watch being performed, it is played with a different intensity than the rest of the film.
Camille and Ugo are lovers. She had left Pierre, a French philosophy professor, and went to Italy, where she settled. Camille's relationship with Ugo is going through some rough moments, no doubt caused by her return to Paris and nerves from the play she is the leading lady. Ugo, who also acts in the play, is determined to find a rare Carlo Goldoni's play, "Il Destino Veneziano", which might have been written in Paris in the eighteenth century.
A few days after the opening, Camille goes to a park where she knows she will find Pierre, a man whose habits take him to the same places all the time. The encounter goes well, but we can see that he is still in love with her. Pierre is now married to the beautiful Sonia, who is a dance instructor. Camille had left Pierre three years ago, but for him, it appears as though it was yesterday. It's obvious that for Camille everything is over, yet, Pierre seems to hope it isn't so.
Ugo, on the other hand, is referred to contact someone who is a descendant of the man who helped Goldoni during his stay in Paris two hundred years before. What he discovers is a mother who is willing to give him access to the library, and just by coincidence, she is the mother of Dominique, who he had met at a library where both were doing research. It's clear from the start that Ugo likes the young woman and she, in turn, likes him also.
The first two hours of the film drag a bit, and could have used some editing in putting things into a different perspective. The last half hour makes more sense as all the different conflicts come to a head and the film becomes alive, especially the funny 'duel' between Ugo and Pierre at the theater. Also, Camille's ability to rescue Sonia's valuable ring from her lover, serves to perk the action.
What it's not immediately clear is the connection among all the characters we meet. Rivette doesn't help things in explaining some of the liaisons have been forged, especially between Arthur, Do's brother, and Sonia, but we have seen the clue as he is seen spying on her ballet class. Also, the Pirandello play, which we see every now and then, doesn't clarify things.
Much has been said in this forum about Jeanne Balibar's Camille. She goes through a whole range of emotions in the film in a nuanced performance. Sergio Castellitto, one of the best Italian actors working in movies these days, is perfect as Ugo. He can be intense, vain, or playful, yet he doesn't stray from betraying Camille. Helene de Fougerolles is a beautiful young actress who makes a lot out of her Do. Marianne Basler is seen as Sonia and Jacques Bonnaffe plays Pierre well.
"Va Savoir" will be quickly dismissed by the audiences that are not prepared to go along for the trip that Jacques Rivette invites us to take with him.