A famous but long inactive painter, Frenhofer has sequestered himself in a country chateau with his wife Liz, a taxidermist nursing her secret hurt. But when he meets Marianne, the sullen girlfriend of a young acolyte, Frenhofer finds his creative impulse suddenly renewed.

To the scratch of a nib and the squelch of paint, Rivette’s sonorous and newly restored drama immerses us in the artistic process, as a battle of wills unfolds between Michel Piccoli’s aging painter and Emmanuelle Béart’s reluctant muse. Roll up your sleeves because things are getting messy.