Love On The Ground [1984] [English subtitles]

Two actresses (Birkin & Chaplin) are invited to a mansion to practise for a play, directed by the house's owner.I am, normally, a fan of Rivette's movies. I think 'Celine & Julie go boating' is absolutely wonderful. But this 'Love on the ground' is an absolute dead duck, for me. The filming technique is gorgous, as always, with his tracking shots and gorgeous still-life details; but the acting is so actor-y, the players so uninteresting... only Birkin looks alive to me, and I actually enjoyed some scenes in which she was involved - there were some faint echoes of Celine & Julie, which gave me high hope. But the anorexic-looking Chaplin seems to suck the life out of the scenes in which she appears, and after an hour and ten minutes I reluctantly gave up. I might try again, in a year or so, when I have forgotten how bad I thought this was!

A famous playwright invites a trio of actors to stay at his mansion and rehearse a vicious autobiographical play. In the act of rehearsing & performing the play (Rivette's favourite metaphor for creating art / living life) various desires and anxieties emerge amongst the actors & inhabitants of the mansion.Love On The Ground is one of three virtually unknown Rivette films from the 1980s being put out by Bluebell DVD - films which did not get a cinema release outside France.Love On The Ground is a very typical Rivette film and will divide viewers just like all his others: you will either find it intriguing, evocative, disturbing & moving or you will find it tedious, irritating, indulgent & banal. This film resembles the better known Celine & Julie but personally I found it preferable - a bit less precious / cute & with less absurd conceits. Also I really liked Jane Birkin & Geraldine Chaplin in the main roles.There are some scenes & plot contrivances towards the end which didn't work for me but overall this is one of Rivette's better films and definitely recommended to fans of the director. Anyone else should approach with caution.

I actually prefer Celine and Julie Go Boating, possibly because I have known and loved that film for so long, and the era reminds me of very early childhood memories, but this is still a very good and very enjoyable film.Birkin and Chaplain make a charismatic pair (Birkin in particular was made for Rivette films) and the themes that made Celine and Julie so intriguing are here once again, but woven into a slightly more contemporary tale of play rehearsal and menages a trois.Hard to explain/review, necessarily long, but very easy to watch. I do agree with the previous reviewer however, that non-Rivette fans should approach with extreme caution.As for me, I will be watching again as soon as I have an afternoon off ...