''Noroît (Une vengeance)'' is a 1976 experimental

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

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 fo ...

. The title is an alteration of ''nord-ouest'' (north-west), meaning the direction or the wind from that direction (in English, a "nor'wester"). The story is loosely based on

Thomas Middleton Thomas Middleton (baptised 18 April 1580 – July 1627; also spelt ''Midleton'') was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. He, with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson, was among the most successful and prolific of playwrights at work in the Jac ...

's ''

The Revenger's Tragedy ''The Revenger's Tragedy'' is an English-language Jacobean revenge tragedy which was performed in 1606, and published in 1607 by George Eld. It was long attributed to Cyril Tourneur, but "The consensus candidate for authorship of ''The Reve ...

''. The film stars

Geraldine Chaplin Geraldine Leigh Chaplin (born July 31, 1944) is an American actress whose long career has included multilingual roles in English, Spanish, French, Italian and German films. Geraldine is a daughter of Charlie Chaplin, the first of his eigh ...

and

Bernadette Lafont Bernadette Lafont (; 28 October 1938 – 25 July 2013) was a French actress who appeared in more than 120 feature films. She has been considered "the face of French New Wave". In 1999 she told ''The New York Times'' her work was "the motor of my e ...

as pirates. ''Noroît'' would have followed ''

Duelle ''Duelle (Une )'' is a 1976 French experimental fantasy drama film directed by Jacques Rivette. The main title is a neologistic feminine form for the noun "duel". The director-assigned English title is ''Twhylight'', a combination of "twilight" a ...

'' (1976) as the third episode of the intended four-film series ''Scènes de la vie parallèle'' (the first being a supernatural love story and the fourth a musical).

Plot

On a beach, Morag (Chaplin) weeps over the lifeless corpse of her brother, Shane and vows to avenge his death. Shane was killed by Giulia (Lafont), the leader of a band of pirates that inhabit the island's castle. Amongst Giulia's band are three men, Jacob, Ludovico and Arno. Morag enlists Erika to be a spy in the pirate's castle and she is employed by Giulia as a bodyguard. Giulia's pirate gang attack a boat and Erika attempts to use the distraction as an opportunity for Morag to stab Giulia. However, the plot fails when Morag is hesitant; the boat attack continues and Jacob is injured. Morag uses her dead brother's body as a trap to ensnare another Giulia ally, Regina. She pours poison on the lips of Shane and leaves him in Jacob's bed. Erika and Morag organize a theater where they mimic the scenario of Regina's death. In a rage by the turn of events, Giulia kills a pirate. She then decides to send Jacob to seduce Erika. Meanwhile, Ludovico attempts to discover the location of hidden treasure. Morag is betrayed by Erika and stabs her. At a masked ball hosted by Giulia, Morag decides to attend and finally avenge Shane. In the battle of the two women, they kill each other.Noroît
Club de Caen. Retrieved on 26 August 2011

Cast

as Morag *

as Giulia *

Kika Markham Erika S.L. "Kika" Markham (born 1940)''birth registered 4th quarter (Oct, Nov, Dec) 1940'' is an English actress. Early life Markham is a daughter of actor David Markham and writer Olive Dehn (1914–2007). She has three sisters, including Pet ...

as Erika *

Humbert Balsan Humbert Jean René Balsan (21 August 1954 – 10 February 2005) was a French film producer and chairman of the European Film Academy. He was known for securing financing and distribution for diverse and often challenging films. In February 2005, ...

as Jakob * Larrio Ekson as Ludovico * Anne-Marie Reynaud as Arno *

Babette Lamy Babette may refer to: * Babette (given name), a feminine name * Babette (card game), a type of solitaire * Babette (clothing line), by baboon an Australian Fashion Brand * ''Babette'' (film), a 1917 silent film * , a US Navy patrol vessel in c ...

as Regina * Danièle Rosencranz as Celia * Élisabeth Lafont as Elisa * Carole Laurenty as Charlotte *

Anne-Marie Fijal Anne-Marie Rose Nicholson (born 7 April 1991) is an English singer and songwriter. She has attained various charting singles on the UK Singles Chart, including Clean Bandit's "Rockabye (song), Rockabye", which peaked at number one, as well as ...

as Fiao * Marie-Christine Meynard as Tony *

Anne Bedou Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie and Ana. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in t ...

as Romain *

Georges Gatecloud Georges may refer to: Places *Georges River, New South Wales, Australia *Georges Quay (Dublin) *Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania Other uses *Georges (name) * ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas * "Georges" (song), a 1977 ...

as Arno's brother

Production

The film was shot in 1975 in

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

in a 15th-century chateau and round a 12th-century coastal fortress. The stylistic model for the film was based on

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), better known as Fritz Lang (), was an Austrian-born film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety Obituari ...

's '' Moonfleet''. The music was improvised.

Release

The film was screened at the

London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the British Film Institute, BFI estim ...

on 17 November 1976.

Reception

Prior to the screening at the London Film Festival, it was noted that the only responses at the time were that it made ''Duelle'' seem like a B-film and that the film is "very, very strange - hard to describe and harder to classify".

References

External links

* 1976 films French drama films 1976 drama films 1970s French-language films French avant-garde and experimental films Films directed by Jacques Rivette 1970s avant-garde and experimental films 1970s French films French-language drama films {{1970s-drama-film-stub