From the lyrical opening sequence of Nicolas and Marianne's staged seduction, Jacques Rivette uses his distinctive, recurring narrative device of performance within a performance in order to illustrate the film's theme, not only of the social propensity to create insulating (and protective), emotional adaptation through masquerade and façades, but also the revelatory nature of art that results from passion, diligence, focus, sacrifice, and abandonment of fear and inhibition.