Part of our Masters: Jacques Rivette series. Restoration courtesy of Arrow Films and the American Genre Film Archive.
Directed by Jacques Rivette | France | 121 mins
“Paris. The last night of a new moon, this winter.” The first and one of only two films completed at the time intended to kick-off a cycle of four, Duelle, its title a telling portmanteau combining the words “duel” and “elle,” is in essence the story of the all time gangbusters knock-down-drag-out battle between two celestial goddesses, or “phantom goddesses,” Viva and Leni, personification of Sun and Moon respectively. Viva and Leni happen to be played by Bulle Ogier and Juliet Berto, who are already divine supernatural beings in their own right. Hermine Karagheuz plays Lucie, a young mortal woman employed in a somewhat neglected hotel in a somewhat neglected arrondissement, first seen as the film commences balancing on a ball like a performing seal. Lucie is a bit of a snoop by nature, and she is worried that her brother Pierrot (Jean Babilée) might be caught up in some kind of nefarious business or other. Her intuition is all too sound, and soon Lucie will find herself likewise enmeshed in the sly machinations of Viva and Leni, the two phantom goddesses vying to acquire the magical jewel that will allow the goddesses who possesses it—at the onset of the new lunar cycle—to remain on Earth and to rule over it uncontested.
The Scènes de la vie parallèl, the four-film cycle Rivette intended to produce in rapid sequence beginning in 1976, was originally inspired by 19th century poet Gérard de Nerval’s Les filles du feu, itself a collection informed by visionary pagan elements incorporated from Irish folklore. Only Duelle and Noroît were completed at the time. The first film depicts mysterious rites involving magical formulas and feminine wiles. The basic mythology is Celtic in origin. The film exists in the quarantaine, a forty-day festival period contingent on the lunar cycle wherein the goddess world and human world interface. Music, dance, and poetry are central to quarantaine festivities, and in Celtic folk tradition the performance of songs is related to the communication of prophecies. In a 1999 interview with Mary M. Wiles, Rivette reminisces upon the debut of Duelle at Cannes and how after the screening the anthropologist and filmmaker Jean Rouch approached him and said: “you know, this film consists entirely of myths that are also African myths.” At the time he made the film, Rivette was also inspired by the choreography of American dancer Carolyn Carlson. One can detect this influence in the fascinating physical performance of Hermine Karagheuz, who had already demonstrated her singular manner of moving through space in the epic Out 1.
-Written by Jason Wierba
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Community Partner: La Cité des Rocheuses
Since 1996, La Cité des Rocheuses has been promoting cultural enrichment, and intercultural and multidisciplinary dialogue in French in Calgary. La Cité des Rocheuses coordinates and presents numerous cultural, artistic, and educational events for the community and youth of the Calgary region.
In the spirit of respect, reciprocity and truth, we honour and acknowledge that this screening takes place on Moh’kinsstis and the traditional Treaty 7 territory, as well as the oral practices of the Blackfoot confederacy: Siksika, Kainai, Piikani as well as the Îyâxe Nakoda and Tsuut’ina nations. We acknowledge that this territory is home to the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region 3 within the historical Northwest Métis homeland. Finally, we acknowledge all Nations, Indigenous and non, who live, work and play, as well as help steward this land, honour and celebrate this territory.