Out 1 (1971)

Out 1 (1971) / Country: France / Director: Jacques Rivette / Duration: 264 min / Language: French / Subtitles: English / Entrance: FREE

The New Wave (French: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of iconoclasm. New Wave filmmakers explored new approaches to editing, visual style, and narrative, as well as engagement with the social and political upheavals of the era, often making use of irony or exploring existential themes.

On Monday and Tuesday, 7 and 8 February 2022, at 19:00 we screen Out 1 (1971), a French film directed by Jacques Rivette. It is indebted to Honoré de Balzac's La Comédie humaine, particularly the History of the Thirteen collection (1833–35). Known for its length of nearly 13 hours (Kino ARMATA is screening the short version of 4 hours and 24 minutes), the film is divided into eight parts around 90–100 minutes each.

The vast length of Out 1 allows Rivette, like Balzac, to construct multiple loosely connected characters with independent stories whose subplots weave amongst each other and continually uncover new characters with their own subplots. The film's experimentation with parallel subplots was influenced by André Cayatte's two-part Anatomy of a Marriage (1964), while the use of expansive screen time was first toyed with by Rivette in L'amour fou (1969). The parallel narrative structure has since been used in many other notable films, including Krzysztof Kieślowski's Dekalog and Lucas Belvaux's Trilogie, which includes Un couple épatant, Cavale and Après la vie, to name a few. Out 1 is a brilliant study of human relationships and an exploration of how a generation's dreams and ideals slowly fade as life goes ruthlessly by.

Jacques Rivette (1928 - 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 fou (1969), Out 1 (1971), Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974), and La Belle Noiseuse (1991). His work is noted for its improvisation, loose narratives, and lengthy running times.

All films will be screened in the French language with English subtitles and the entrance is free of charge. Kino ARMATA's public program is supported by Prishtina Municipality and Goethe Institut.