Va Savoir (Who Knows?)

Jacques Rivette's 2001 film begins with Camille, a French actress working with an Italian theatre company, returning to Paris after three years. The company is performing Pirandello. Camille dreads meeting her former partner, while her current one, Ugo, is meeting someone else in pursuit of an unpublished manuscript. Rivette circulates the story among six people, each of whom is hiding something from another. The structure comes from the comic tradition but the pace is never hurried; the film runs past two and a half hours, much of it in conversation. The play on stage and the relationships offstage keep commenting on each other. The concern that runs through Rivette's whole career sits at the centre here: the permeability between theatre and life. Jeanne Balibar's performance holds it together. Who it's for: those who love Rivette and French cinema built around theatre. Who it's not for: viewers wanting something short and dense; the film is long and keeps its tension deliberately low.