| | |
Features: DVD, Aspect Ratio 2.35:1, Mono Audio, Aspect Ratio 1.85:1, English, Subtitled
In her first major screen role, Academy Award-winner Juliette Binoche (The English Patient) gives a raw and electrifying performance as sexual free-spirit Nina, who moves to Paris to become an actress. She has a profound impact on three men: Paulot (Wadeck Stanczak) is a timid real estate clerk infatuated with her, Quentin (Lambert Wilson), is an emotionally scarred actor who performs in live sex shows. Scrutzler (screen legend Jean-Louis Trintignant) is a stage director who casts Nina in his production of Romeo and Juliet. Co-written by Olivier Assayas (Irma Vep), Rendez-vous is a mesmerizing study of love, loss, and redemption that earned director Andre Techine (Wild Reeds) Best Director honors at the Cannes Film Festival.
"Juliette Binoche's career defining performance" Armond White, Film Comment
"A masterful examination of obsessive passion...Juliette Binoche is riveting." Henry Sheehan, Los Angeles Reader
Editor's Note
RENDEZ-VOUS is the chilling story of young Nina, recently arrived in Paris by way of her Toulouse hometown in order to "live her life." Nina ends up with a bit part in a play and the unwanted attentions of every man in Paris. When she meets Paolo, a real estate agent, he falls immediately in love with her, while she inexplicably falls for Paolo's psychotic and cruel flatmate, Quentin. The erotic and violent love triangle that develops is curtailed when Quentin throws himself under a car. Nina is continually haunted by her brief but torrid affair with Quentin and uses the theater and Paolo to support herself.
Plot Summary
In André Téchiné's RENDEZ-VOUS, Nina (Juliette Binoche) lives in Paris, having recently liberated herself from her hometown of Toulouse. In the three short months since her arrival, she can count the number of nights spent alone on one hand. While performing a small role in a play, Nina meets Paolo, a real estate agent. In a fit of love, Paolo takes Nina under his wing only to find that she has fallen for his cruel and insidious flatmate, Quentin. Quentin is an actor who works in an illicit sex show. The first time he meets Nina, he attempts to rape her. As Paola pursues Nina to no avail, Quentin and Nina develop a bizarre, cruel, and obsessive relationship. When Quentin kills himself, Nina and Paolo are brought together. A mysterious theater director, Scrutzler (Jean-Louis Trintignant), emerges and tells Nina that he had directed Quentin and his last lover in ROMEO AND JULIET and that the two had enacted a real-life suicide pact, one that Quentin unwittingly survived. Nina and Paolo move in together, as Nina is haunted by visions of Quentin. When she is cast as Juliet in Scrutzler's new production, the lives of all the characters collide. Paolo finally leaves Nina as she struggles to escape the influence and cruelty of Quentin and prepares to be her own Juliet.
| Features | Audio: French Mono | | Essay By Author And Critic Brian McFarlane | | Interactive Menus | | Original Theatrical Trailer | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English |
| Technical Info
|
Release Information
| | Studio: Home Vision/Public Media |
| Release Date: 2/15/2005 |
| Running Time: 83 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1985 | | Catalog ID: 040 | | UPC: 00037429204320 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: French | | Available Audio Tracks: French | | Available Subtitles: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Cannes (1985) |  | André Téchiné, Winner, Best Director |
|
| | Professional Reviews | Variety
"...A stylishly engrossing tale of obsessive sexuality and initiation, forcefully put across by excellent young actors..." 05/15/1985Los Angeles Times
"...Swift and somber....[Techine] has now in full measure that characteristically French understanding that in dealing with love and passion, a brisk, laconic style creates the greatest emotional impact..." 05/16/1987 p.C4 USA Today
"...Andre Techine's 'best director' Cannes winner is tight, visually sleek, and an alternate showcase for Juliet Binoche..." 05/25/1990 p.3D Sight and Sound
"Juliette Binoche still shines...as promiscuous and lovelorn ingenue Nina." 05/01/2006 p.91 |
| |
|
|
|
