HANS I claim that some films need to be watched while slowly getting drunk - like Jarmusch's Dead Man, or Rivette's 4 hour version of La Belle Noiseuse.This film is not afraid of art, which makes it stand out over most other films that have a similar subject. The filmmaker immerses himself into the process much like Frenhofer does. He is not scared to show the actual creating of a sketch, or the finding of a pose for the model.Rivette also captures the very particular lifestyle of Southern France, something that I feel is a bit endangered in today's economy dominated European Union.

SnoopyStyle Famed painter Edouard Frenhofer (Michel Piccoli) has been living in quiet secluded retirement with his model wife Liz (Jane Birkin) on a large country estate. They are visited by Marianne (Emmanuelle Béart), her artist boyfriend Nicolas, and an art dealer. Frenhofer is taken with the beautiful Marianne. She inspires him to restart his abandoned La Belle Noiseuse painting with the young nude model in long sessions.The plot is simple. The characterization is compelling but the movie is slow and it is extremely long. It is four freaking hours. This is more about the act of creating. Despite the extended scenes, the drawing process is quite riveting even when Béart isn't naked. There is a hypnotic feel watching him create something on the blank page. The movie is too long for most audiences. Painting may be fascinating but it's not worth sitting for four hours straight.

tomm-25 This film is for your "right" brain. If you have the patience to be attentive throughout this extraordinarily long film (the nearly 4-hr version), you will absorb a glimpse into the "creative process." Not to be "hoity-toity" about this matter, but this is truly a masterpiece of a glimpse into the creative process of a great artist, his relationship with his subject, and the final disposition of the result of their collaboration.And he could have no better subject for his study of the human form than the ethereal physical perfection of Emmanuelle Béart - not to take anything away from her expertise as an actor.This is a contest - one to which both Piccoli and Béart are more than equal.Find the time. Sit back and relax. Get a drink or two, if you must. but PAY ATTENTION! Opportunities like this don't come along very often.

tFighterPilot I really like the nude scene in this film, so I thought, why not watching the whole film. Well, I almost did, but ended up shutting off the TV about one and half hours after it started. In the first hour of the movie you see people talk what seem like small talks. In the next 20 minutes you see that artist guy drawing. Then she finally gets undressed, making the movie not any more interesting. Still small talks. Still watching paint dry. Days of Our Lives has faster pace. Most of the people here who gave it a high score did it to look smart. I don't see how enduring 4 hours of watching small talks, paint dry and tasteful nudity (yes, that gets boring as well) makes a person smart. So like the kid who yelled "the king is naked" I'll say "the movie is boring".