Jacques Rivetette is known for his feature-length films, which often exceed two hours, the most notable of which is his four-hour work, Uninhibited Beauty. It is said that some films from the 70s of the last century even ran for almost 12 hours straight. Although the length of the film is long, according to Rivett's theorem, these feature films do not necessarily mean that they are rich in content, and the plot is not necessarily confusing.
In Rivett's long-form works, the story descriptions tend to be rather simplistic and prosaic. For example, "Secret Defense", which I watched last year, only tells the story of a sister who avenges her father, but it took nearly three hours to narrate, and the number of characters is very small.
The same is true for "Phantom Love", the number of characters who appear can be counted on your fingers, but the process is not boring. In this film, time seems to stand still, and the characters are placed in a relatively enclosed space where physical time has been lost. Even the "ticking" sound made by the actor when he repaired the clock made one wonder about the existence of time. In the director's film, time stands completely still, and what the viewer sees is not the passage of time, but the feeling of experiencing it with the characters. This is the first feature of "Phantom Love".
The second feature is that the film has a strong sense of stage drama. Most of the time, the audience will feel like they are not watching a movie, but actually attending a live** stage play. This may have something to do with the director's spatial design, where most of the scenes are indoors, and the recurring scenes give the illusion that the background has never changed. This creates a "sense of stage drama".
With the above two features, the process of the film becomes extremely interesting. The audience doesn't seem to pay attention to the actions of the characters or the development of the plot, because no matter how many times the male protagonist repairs the clock, how many times the female protagonist decorates the room, or even how many times they ** in the bedroom, it does not move the plot forward, and time does not seem to pass. Therefore, the audience experiences the charm of the director's fantastic style.
Finally, let's talk about the theme of the movie. I can't help but think of Bergman's classic "Marriage Scene" or the latest "Sarah Bond", which both deal with the problems of husband and wife's marriage. Of course, Rivett isn't as good at setting up great dialogue as Bergman, revealing the crisis of marriage through conflict. The dialogue in the movie is very limited. Rivett skillfully uses the old-fashioned story of "ghost love" to successfully break down the barrier between reality and fantasy, and present the subtle emotions between husband and wife. Unlike "Rouge Buckle", the female ghost in "Phantom Love" does not come back in pursuit of lost feelings, but is committed to breaking the arrangement of fate and recovering her own life.
An often overlooked master of the New Wave, Rivett continues to be active in the 21st century film industry with his unique directing style. I look forward to his early presentation of more wonderful works.