''Paris Belongs to Us'' (french: Paris nous appartient, sometimes translated as ''Paris Is Ours'') is a 1961 French

mystery film A mystery film is a genre of film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, i ...

directed by

Jacques Rivette Jacques Rivette (; 1 March 1928 – 29 January 2016) was a French film director and film critic most commonly associated with the French New Wave and the film magazine '' Cahiers du Cinéma''. He made twenty-nine films, including '' L'amour f ...

. Set in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

in 1957 and often referencing

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's play ''

Pericles Pericles (; grc-gre, Περικλῆς; c. 495 – 429 BC) was a Greek politician and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Pelo ...

'', the title is highly ironic because the characters are immigrants or alienated and do not feel that they belong at all. The story centres on an essentially innocent, young university student named Anne who, through her older brother, meets a group of friends haunted by mysterious tensions and fears that lead two of them to commit suicide. Among them is her opposite, a femme fatale named Terry who has had affairs with all the men. The source of the malaise affecting the group is never explained, leaving viewers to wonder how far it might be an amalgam of individual imbalances, general

existentialist Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and value ...

anxiety, or the paranoia of the Cold War as the world faced the possibility of

nuclear annihilation A nuclear holocaust, also known as a nuclear apocalypse, nuclear Armageddon, or atomic holocaust, is a theoretical scenario where the mass detonation of nuclear weapons causes globally widespread destruction and radioactive fallout. Such a scenar ...

Plot

The film opens with the literature student Anne who is reading Shakespeare when she hears sounds of distress in the next room. There she finds a Spanish girl who says her brother Juan has been killed by dark forces. Anne then meets with her own brother Pierre, who takes her to a party held by some of his friends. Initially bored and knowing nobody, she gradually becomes fascinated by mysterious interactions around her. Juan, an anti-Franco refugee, has recently died from a knife wound which some think was a suicide. Philip, an unsteady American refugee from McCarthyism, gets drunk and slaps a smartly dressed woman named Terry, accusing her of causing Juan's death by breaking up with him. The next day, Anne meets with a friend who is an aspiring actor, and he takes her to a rehearsal of Shakespeare's ''

'', the director of which proves to be Gérard, the host of last night's party. Because the actress for the part of Marina has not arrived, Anne is asked to read, and she performs well. Afterward she runs into Philip, who recounts long tales in veiled language about sinister interests that have destroyed Juan and may now get Gérard too. From there on, Anne becomes determined to resolve the mystery that is obsessing the lives of these people and to save Gérard but in neither project does she succeed because Gérard kills himself, and by the end, she is little wiser. It seems that the threat is not external but in the heads of the survivors.

Cast

Betty Schneider Betty or Bettie is a name, a common diminutive for the names Bethany and Elizabeth. In Latin America, it is also a common diminutive for the given name Beatriz, the Spanish and Portuguese form of the Latin name Beatrix and the English name Bea ...

as Anne Goupil *

François Maistre François Maistre (14 May 1925 – 16 May 2016) was a French film, television and theatre actor. Born in Demigny, Saône-et-Loire, France, he appeared in nearly 100 films between 1960 and 2003. His father was singer and actor A.-M. Julien. Se ...

as Pierre Goupil *

Giani Esposito Giani Esposito (23 August 1930 – 1 January 1974) was a FrenchDeath certificate n° 7/1974 oGiani Esposito on French site Les Gens du Cinéma/ref> film actor and singer-songwriter. Esposito was born from the union of a French mother with an It ...

as Gérard Lenz *

Françoise Prévost Françoise Prévost (c. 1680 in Paris – 1741 in Paris) was a French ballerina who helped establish dramatic dance in the early world of classical ballet. She was expressive, light and dramatic in style. In 1699, Prevost debuted at the Paris O ...

as Terry Yordan * Daniel Crohem as Philip Kaufman * Jean-Claude Brialy as Jean-Marc * Jean-Marie Robain as Dr. de Georges

Production

Written in 1957, shot from July to November 1958, but not released until 13 December 1961, it was the film critic Rivette's first full-length film as a director and one of the early works of the French New Wave. Like his fellow '' Cahiers du cinéma'' critic

Éric Rohmer Jean Marie Maurice Schérer or Maurice Henri Joseph Schérer, known as Éric Rohmer (; 21 March 192011 January 2010), was a French film director, film critic, journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and teacher. Rohmer was the last of the post-World ...

, Rivette did not find popularity with his early films, and unlike many of the New Wave directors, he remained at ''Cahiers'' for most of the core New Wave era from 1958 to 1968, only completing two more full-length films during this time. As a New Wave characteristic, the film includes cameos for fellow directors Claude Chabrol (who also co-produced the film), Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Demy and Rivette himself.

Reception

The film was met by some London film critics with furious incomprehension however, it was awarded the

Sutherland Trophy The Sutherland Trophy was created in 1958 by the British Film Institute as an annual award for "the maker of the most original and imaginative film introduced at the National Film Theatre during the year". History In 1997, the criteria changed to ...

by the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

as the most original and innovative film introduced at the

National Film Theatre BFI Southbank (from 1951 to 2007, known as the National Film Theatre) is the leading repertory cinema in the UK, specialising in seasons of classic, independent and non-English language films. It is operated by the British Film Institute. His ...

during the year. It had only a brief commercial run in London. Film critic

Jonathan Rosenbaum Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for ''The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008, when he retired. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has ...

liked the film: "Jacques Rivette’s troubled and troubling 1960 account of Parisians in the late 50s remains the most intellectually and philosophically mature, and one of the most beautiful...Few films have more effectively captured a period and milieu; Rivette evokes bohemian paranoia and sleepless nights in tiny one-room flats, along with the fragrant, youthful idealism conveyed by the film’s title".

Richard Brody Richard Brody (born 1958) is an American film critic who has written for ''The New Yorker'' since 1999. Education Brody grew up in Roslyn, New York, and attended Princeton University, receiving a B.A. in comparative literature in 1980. He firs ...

of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' reviewed the film positively: "Rivette’s tightly wound images turn the ornate architecture of Paris into a labyrinth of intimate entanglements and apocalyptic menace; he evokes the fearsome mysteries beneath the surface of life and the enticing illusions that its masterminds, whether human or divine, create." The critic Hamish Ford stated: "... for me at least, his debut feature is a perfect film in its way. If the first work of a long career should, at least in the oeuvre-charting rear-vision mirror, offer an appropriately characteristic or even perhaps idiosyncratic entry point into a distinct film-world, then ''Paris nous appartient'' is indeed a perfect 'first' Rivette in its combination of formal daring and conceptual elusiveness."Paris nous appartient
by Hamish Ford at Senses of Cinema

References

External links