La Belle Noiseuse (1991)

La Belle Noiseuse is a thrilling and unconventional drama about the responsibility of an artist to his vision and the conflicts that arise when such responsibility is perceived as a threat to others. Michel Piccoli (Le Doulos) delivers one of his finest, most lived-in performances as Edouard Frenhofer, a famous painter living with his artist wife Liz (Jane Birkin) on a spacious estate in the French countryside. Frenhofer has lacked inspiration for a decade and has given up on painting. The idea behind his unfinished masterpiece, La Belle Noiseuse ("The Beautiful Troublemaker"), has been seemingly unattainable for a decade; Liz was the original model for it, and Frenhofer's exhaustion with the project has an emotional parallel to his dispassionate relationship with her.

Along comes a rising artist, Nicolas (David Bursztein), who suggests that his girlfriend, Marianne (Emmanuelle Béart), a writer, could help Frenhofer jumpstart the painting's completion. From this point, most of La Belle Noiseuse becomes a remarkable, seemingly unedited and privileged look at the development of a bond between artist and muse. Béart, fiercely brilliant, spends the majority of the film nude and continually molded into sometimes-painful positions as Frenhofer struggles--sketch after sketch, paint upon paint--to find something beyond the obviousness of Marianne's body. As the two struggle to meet each other halfway, Liz and Nicolas feel marginalized and jealous, putting pressure on Frenhofer to disregard such personal concerns or give in to them. Adapted by French New Wave master Jacques Rivette from a story by Honore de Balzac, the lengthy La Belle Noiseuse is fascinated by the artistic process; it is itself a patient process of watching ideas and aesthetic courage reveal themselves in the face of extraneous aversion. --Tom Keogh Amazon.com

Pretentious yes - but it is a work of art

This loses a star for its sheer length, at 229 minutes its too long. As with a lot of French films I found the beginning very slow. Nothing really seemed to happen in the first 1/2 to 3/4s of an hour. Others will probably rightly say that all this is character development...

However, don't let the above put you off, because actually its a rewarding film on many levels. If you are interested in art then the film will fascinate you. The scenes with the artist and his model are engrossing and even more engrossing for me was watching the creation of the art. You actually see, for minutes at a time, drawing with ink, and charcoal, as well as the frustration of the artist and the magic of creation.

Of course this is also an erotic movie. Emmanuelle Beart as Marianne is a stunning looking art model who is physically manipulated by Frenhofer, the artist, to try and capture something that he never completed when painting his wife ten years earlier.

The story is slight, and yes pretentious, but in the end rewarding, as at the end there are a number of surprises, which neatly tie all the loose ends together. You may like me not appreciate or understand the ending initially, but the revelation ocurred to me the next day and everything fell into place.
April 13, 2008

La belle noiseuse

Too much boring talk from the artist, in what could have been an interesting story. But with a totally naked Emanuelle Beart hanging around, what man would dare to complain? February 23, 2008

Despite its length and lingering pace, an astonishing film about the artistic process..

French New Wave director Jacques Rivette is considered to be even more experimental than Jean-Luc Godard. His films are characterized by long running times (Out 1, for instance, has a 750-minute running time) and plots that unfold in unconventional ways. Based on Honoré de Balzac's short story, "The Unknown Masterpiece," La Belle Noiseuse has a running time of 240 minutes. It tells the story of a gifted and reclusive artist Edouard Frenhofer (Michel Piccoli) who lives with his wife and former model (French icon Jane Birkin) in a quiet château in rural Provence. Frenhofer is inspired to return to an unfinished painting, "La Belle Noiseuse," using a visiting writer (beautiful Emmanuelle Béart) as his model. Despite its unusual length and lingering pace, that's the film's entire plot. However, Rivette's film is ultimately about the artistic process, the relationship between an artist and his muse, and the artist's temperament, which make La Belle Noiseuse such an astonishing film.

G. Merritt February 8, 2008

Art Work

This very very French film about an aging artist finding renewal and inspiration in painting a beautiful and difficult young woman is probably the most detailed depiction of the creative process and the interaction between artist and model ever attempted. You may find it overlong and boring or completely fascinating, depending upon your patience with the leisurely pace and the oh so French talk about relationships, metaphysics and whatnot.

I found no such boredom in watching the difficulty of creation because of the fine portrayal by Michel Piccoli of the irrascible and tasking artist but even more so by the object of his interest, the exquisite work of art that is Beart. If a couple of hours of viewing the divine Emanuelle in the nude is too much for you, so be it, but it'll do for me. Interestingly, the long exposure of her beautiful body allows the viewer to begin to see her as the artist does, as shape and texture, surfaces, planes and form. There is also the effect of the artist's invasive exposure and objectification upon the subject. This is the central fascination of this film, less so the cryptic and enigmatic dialogue. The artist and model struggle and the outcome of the struggle is change and re-examination for both. Something different for those who like different. December 28, 2007

La Belle Noiseuse

Rivette's extraordinary drama about a famous artist who feels his well of talent has dried up examines the mysteries and passions that attend the artistic process, and the obsessive intimacy that often develops between painter and model. In a role that demanded a solid, mature, weighty presence, Piccoli is magnificent as Edouard, while Beart is simply ravishing in an equally demanding, robust performance. Expertly and patiently directed by Rivette, who homes in on the mundane details of creating a masterly artwork--the painstaking applications of ink and oil, the methodical refinement of technique--"Noiseuse" is, quite simply, an enthralling experience. If a four hour viewing time deters you, by all means watch it in two parts. July 13, 2007

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