Noroît

El Biffo

Rivette was so cool. Even though I don't exactly understand why they all kill each other I guess because they are all fighting over the pirate treasure? I love how the violence is all very obviously fake like in a stage play, not like a modern movie where they make it look like realistically horrifying murder.

Jason

Another Rivette born of and engaged w/ play. Play worlds. In fact, his ongoing interests in theatre and conspiracy become concerns w/ domains of play. Here we have something almost completely abstracted. The actors are taken far away from civilization and made to enact a theatre of deconstructed Jacobean revenge tragedy. A film about counterculture. Rivette may be the counterculture's most sly master of ceremonies.

Jesse Furgurson

Creepy, sexy, mesmeric. Sorta impenetrable, too, but who cares about that when a movie makes people move like this?

F.Bieberkopf

The Ruizian Rivette.

EdieEmm

Initially absorbing, in the way the worlds we used to make up as kids were absorbing; with their rules that emanated from an internal logic that we all just inherently understood; that were fun, but somehow also strangely serious, and time passed unnoticed... Now I notice. After an hour, despite Rivette's vision, the great diegetic music, the sets, my 4 stars started falling... 2.5, up from 2, for the brilliant end.

Dan and Val Freeman

Just what I want from French new wave - long winded and bonkers! So many ideas ... like an open air theatre version of The Tempest with performance art, musicians playing in the scenes and feminist pirates running amok. Nothing like it.

Chris Laursen

Left me befuddled. Frustrated at any attempt to form a cohesive plot in my head. Hard to tell actors apart from dead bodies. The musicians playing the music are actually in the movie, which was cool but most of the music was horrible to listen to. Not enough nudity for such an artsy flick

theravecave@hotmail.co.uk

Beautiful setting, costumes and use of film stock. Wonderful mood music and lighting. Fantastic mixture of dance and drama. The Red Shoes meets Hamlet and yet utterly unique. Just fantastic