Va Savoir Reviews

Extreme Tedium

A laboured attempt at a portraying the ennui and affected mild eccentricity so beloved of the French intelligensia. Poorly acted, without conviction or indeed much interest, the pace of this film was such that I considered turning it off within the first half hour and wished that the end would come throughout. It is not engaging, it is not thought provoking, it is not cool. This film failed on so many levels.

A thoroughly intelligent, witty and wholly French affair

I knew next to nothing about 'Va Savoir' aside from the fact that critics were very divided about it - very few are of them are impartial and they either love it or hate. So it was - armed with this knowledge - that I approached 'Va Savoir' with a little trepidation. Admittedly, the film does take an awfully long time to get going and it wasn't until at least 30-45 minutes in that it hit its stride. Bear with it for this first bit and you will be richly rewarded. At times reminiscent of a Shakespearian drama, at others, perhaps Robert Altman's 'Short Cuts', 'Va Savoir' is a witty, dense, intelligent and convoluted film that should beguile. I loved the little asides and expressions of the characters and what is great is that the director gives the cast time to really explore their characters in depth. There is a naturalistic tone here and I also felt that Paris was as much a character in this film as the six leads. The plot is richly detailed, once you understand what is going on, and the writer should be applauded for constructing such a fascinating web. It could be argued that 'Va Savoir' is overlong but I believe there is also a three hour cut of the film available on DVD, significantly longer than this version. I believe that 'Va Savoir' is a perfect piece of French artistry, demonstrates that the French cinema is in rude good health, and surely deserves better praise than it's got. It is also one that you could easily return to again and again, and get something different from each time. I gave 4 stars merely for the fact that the editing could have been a little tighter, bringing down the length of the film and improving it somewhat. Either way, 'Va Savoir' is worthy of a 5.

Delicious, a bit dreamlike, very subtle

Fascinating. A film that explores opposites: intellectual study versus acting in the theatre, attraction and repulsion, moral and immoral action, reality and theatrical role, success and failure, action within and without the law. Most characters have a past where they thought and acted differently, and for two of them, that past comes back to bother them.

This is the sort of intellectual French film, with a lightness of touch that I really like. You feel that nothing can go really wrong. There is a beautiful, thoughtful woman who slowly reveals herself to us over the course of the film; even bits she didn't know existed.

[Highly rated reviewer]

I would like to say that I enjoyed this film. The truth is that while I admired the way it had been put together with a very superior artistry I found it very difficult to relax into watching it. A difficult and challenging film maker, Jacques Rivette did not take me with him on this one, I'm afraid. So my 4 stars are more a reflection of my recognition of the quality of the film rather than a measure of my enjoyment on viewing it.

Don't bother!!

Terrible dull film, I soon hit the fast forward.

It never got going

very slow, found it boring. perhaps a second attempt when in a different frame of mind --- who knows!

Sophisticated French Cinema

Not all films are meant to be pure entertainment, and Jacques Rivette does sometimes demand a lot of his audience.

Having said that, this is fairly accessible, although I understand that some people will find it boring.

If you like French cinema, then Rivette is essential viewing.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Not quite first-rate Rivette

Jacques Rivette here returns to one of the recurrent themes of his awesome directorial career: the place where theatre and life overlap. So we have a French actress in an Italian play which is all about identity (Pirandello's 'As you desire me'), returning to Paris for the first time in three years, and very nervous about the work is going to be received. She and her lover flirt with the idea of swapping partners, while her lover also continues his life-long quest for a lost Goldoni play. It's all terrifically elegant, perfectly planned and rewardingly witty. Perhaps, in fact, it's a little too perfect, because there's also something a wee bit airless about what happens, a bit too programmatic. It's also too long - at two and a half hours; with Rivette, length is usually a bonus (his longest film, 'Out 1' takes an entire day to watch), but here, he doesn't quite have enough to fill the time.

Cure for insomnia

Having watched a fine performance by Sergio Castellitto in 'Mostly Martha', I thought I'd give one of his other films a try. Whatta mistaka to maka. I found 'Va Savoir' (Who Knows) to be utterly tedious. At over 2 hours long, it's definitely a two-nighter.

Jacques Rivette's French 'New Wave' comedy is far too subtle for my tastes. I can guarantee it certainly won't have you rolling about in the aisles!

[Highly rated reviewer]

Boring

My DVD froze 2/3-3/4 of the way but it didn't bother me much as I was bored to death already and was not paying much attention to it anyway.