Friday, 5/30/97 New French cinema featured in L.A. courtesy of Laemmle FILM: Series begins with Rivette's 'Up/Down/Fragile,' which joins theatrics of music, realism of daily life
By John Nein Daily Bruin Contributor Continuing their largely unheralded but much appreciated effort to present new and unseen work by filmmakers of both independent and international origin, Laemmle Theaters opens a three-film series "Le Cinema Francais" this evening with a new film from one of the most dynamic, illustrious figures of the French New Wave and beyond, Jacques Rivette. "Up/Down/Fragile," Rivette's latest film, roams around for about an hour or so before doing something so unexpected and captivating that it would be utterly fiendish to give the surprise away and deprive audiences of the pleasure of having it gently cascade over them. The turn "Up/Down/Fragile" takes has to do with what kind of film Rivette, superbly organic storyteller that he is, thought to make about life in the modern world. It's slightly unusual to announce something as fundamental as the genre of one's film almost half way through the whole affair. Unusual, but lovely. What appears to be a compelling but rather conventional character piece about three women in Paris gracefully undergoes a colorful metamorphosis, and the movie that flies away from the cocoon of the first hour is something undeniably unique. "Up/Down/Fragile" follows the arbitrarily intersecting lives of Louise (Marianne Denicourt), who is recovering from a five-year coma; Ninon (Nathalie Richard), a petty thief who flees trouble to start over again as a motorped courier in Paris; and Ida (Laurence Cote), an unassuming librarian in search of her mother. The nightclub which eventually draws the three of them together acts as a subtle narrator of sorts, pulling the themes and lives of each woman together. As one of the songs suggests, life is about the memories and the past that chases you or that you chase. Each woman contends with that issue in differing ways, but Rivette's style and camera work are so sophisticated and fluid that there's not even a hint of false sentimentality. Every nuance of body movement is somehow matched or countered by Christopher Pollack's photography. And without being overtly dopey in its tactics, "Up/Down/Fragile"'s message is basically, "life is complicated, just dance." (which the characters do with some regularity). The story was developed through extensive rehearsals in which the three actors and Rivette invented the characters. This style, which brought Mike Leigh renown last year for "Secrets & Lies," once again displays an incredible vitality, authenticity and ability to balance a theatrical film style with real characters. Rivette makes three very specific situations of three very specific characters resoundingly universal by finding the simple elements that make them human - they all communicate with each other - and he's doing it strictly through the visual style and tone of his work. "Up/ Down/Fragile" is two films, really: drama and fantasy. "Magical Realism" has undergone so many critical convolutions that over time it's lost any sort of concrete definition. "Up/Down/ Fragile" makes such a point of intertwining the theatricality of music and dance with the realism of daily life, and so much that no other word but "magical" conveys what a pleasure Rivette's film turns out to be. The festival continues next week with first-time director Laetitia Masson's romantic comedy, "To Have (Or Not)," about two young people's search for generational identity and meaning in life. The film, photographed by Caroline Champetier ("Helas Pour Moi") drew attention recently at the Berlin Film Festival, and Sandrin Kilberlain's performance in the film won her the 1995 Cesar Award in France for the most promising actress of the year. Masson wrote the script as well. She started her career as a camera assistant for several directors, including Rivette (on "La Belle Noiseuse"). FILM: "Le Cinema Francais" series screens at the Laemmle Grand 4-plex in downtown Los Angeles at 345 S. Figueroa in the lower level of the Sheraton Grande Hotel. "Up/Down/ Fragile" screens May 30-June 5, "To Have (or Not)" plays June 6-12.