Galina The film's heroine, Camille, a French stage actress left Paris three years ago and found success in Torino, Italy where she became a lead actress for the theater company. She also became a lover of Ugo, a famous stage director. She returns back to Paris with Ugo and his company to act in Italian as a main character in Pirandello's "As You Desire Me", the play that explores the mysteries of identity and memory. While in Paris, Camille confronts her past life and Pierre, the man whom she loved and still can't forget. I found Camille's character (as played by Jeanne Balibar, the stage actress and a dancer) very interesting. She may not be likable in a beginning but she is talented and every character in the movie after watching her performing at the stage leaves with the feelings that they've witnessed something very special. Camille changes as the movie progresses and in the end she becomes like a sister or close friend to both Celine and Julie. Her every movement, gesture, the way she walks, smiles, turns her head, speaks in two languages changing the timbre of her voice are true marvels to watch and to listen to. Ugo tries to find in the Paris libraries the lost but existing play by the Italian dramatist of 18th century, Carlo Goldoni and is helped by an intelligent and beautiful young student, Dominique or Do and they both seem to have developed some special feelings for each other. Dominique has a half-brother, Arthur who is in love with Sonja, a new woman in Pierre's life or is he in love with Sonja's exquisite jewelry? Do and Arthur have a mother, Madame Desprez who has inherited the library of the rare and priceless old books but she does not sell them, she keeps them as a memory of her first husband. Sonja, Pierre's girlfriend seems to bring the peace and happiness in Pierre's life after Camille was gone but she, too, had a mystery in her rather wild past for which a marvelous ring, an object of Arthur's desire serves as a reminder. I like "Va savoir" a lot - it is so well constructed and absolutely Rivettesque and it made me smile all the time. It is long (as usual for Rivette's films) but elegantly relaxed. It moves well with its own wonderful pace and we enjoy leisure walkings and spend time with many old and rare books. We feel longing that is in the air - all six characters desire something and someone. We notice once again how much Rivette likes his characters sitting on the park bench where the magic events begin happening to them. We go through many wonderful sequences, ironic, dramatic, and lyrical and in the end we are awarded by the finale which is truly grand and theatrical in the best sense. After all the movie could be viewed as Rivette's love letter to theater. Va Savoir? Who knows?

jotix100 Obviously, "Va Savoir", like most of Jacques Rivette's films, is not a film for the masses. On the other hand, fans of the work of Mr. Rivette will enjoy this work for its own merits.The director gives us a play within a play. We are invited to watch as an Italian theater company is rehearsing Luigi Pirandello's "Come tu mi voui", or "As You Desire Me" for the Paris engagement. The Pirandello text has a lot to do with one sees on the stage, a ploy that doesn't come across for most viewers. The theatrical production of this 1930 play is a bit over the top for out taste, as scenes are played backward on stage and we are taken to see it. Also, being a theatrical production we watch being performed, it is played with a different intensity than the rest of the film.Camille and Ugo are lovers. She had left Pierre, a French philosophy professor, and went to Italy, where she settled. Camille's relationship with Ugo is going through some rough moments, no doubt caused by her return to Paris and nerves from the play she is the leading lady. Ugo, who also acts in the play, is determined to find a rare Carlo Goldoni's play, "Il Destino Veneziano", which might have been written in Paris in the eighteenth century.A few days after the opening, Camille goes to a park where she knows she will find Pierre, a man whose habits take him to the same places all the time. The encounter goes well, but we can see that he is still in love with her. Pierre is now married to the beautiful Sonia, who is a dance instructor. Camille had left Pierre three years ago, but for him, it appears as though it was yesterday. It's obvious that for Camille everything is over, yet, Pierre seems to hope it isn't so.Ugo, on the other hand, is referred to contact someone who is a descendant of the man who helped Goldoni during his stay in Paris two hundred years before. What he discovers is a mother who is willing to give him access to the library, and just by coincidence, she is the mother of Dominique, who he had met at a library where both were doing research. It's clear from the start that Ugo likes the young woman and she, in turn, likes him also.The first two hours of the film drag a bit, and could have used some editing in putting things into a different perspective. The last half hour makes more sense as all the different conflicts come to a head and the film becomes alive, especially the funny 'duel' between Ugo and Pierre at the theater. Also, Camille's ability to rescue Sonia's valuable ring from her lover, serves to perk the action.What it's not immediately clear is the connection among all the characters we meet. Rivette doesn't help things in explaining some of the liaisons have been forged, especially between Arthur, Do's brother, and Sonia, but we have seen the clue as he is seen spying on her ballet class. Also, the Pirandello play, which we see every now and then, doesn't clarify things.Much has been said in this forum about Jeanne Balibar's Camille. She goes through a whole range of emotions in the film in a nuanced performance. Sergio Castellitto, one of the best Italian actors working in movies these days, is perfect as Ugo. He can be intense, vain, or playful, yet he doesn't stray from betraying Camille. Helene de Fougerolles is a beautiful young actress who makes a lot out of her Do. Marianne Basler is seen as Sonia and Jacques Bonnaffe plays Pierre well."Va Savoir" will be quickly dismissed by the audiences that are not prepared to go along for the trip that Jacques Rivette invites us to take with him.

writers_reign If your attention-span is severely traumatized by Police Academy then best give this one a miss. Keeping track of all the separate threads is like keeping track of individual strands of spaghetti after it's doused in sauce. On the other hand if you make the effort you may decide it's worth it. In one sense it revolves around Camille (Jeanne Balibar) a French actress back on French soil for the first time in three years via a European tour of Pirandello's As You Desire Me. Camille is, in fact, the first thing we see as a pin-spot picks her out of the darkness reinforcing the theatrical quality we are in for. Ostensibly an item with Ugo (Sergio Castellitto) the director of the play and leading actor opposite her, Camille has it in mind to look up her ex-lover, a Professor of Philosophy who, in the interim has married and become a devoted husband. Neither is Ugo as open as he might be about his quest for a lost manuscript by Goldoni and the young girl Dominique who is 'helping' him in this quest. The plot thickens when we learn that Dominique's brother, Arthur, is not only enamored of the Professor's wife but has eyes also for an expensive ring she wears. Rivette and his two screenwriters - both, incidentally, actors themselves - keep the balls spinning and throw in a series of set-pieces as well as ringing the changes on duets, trios and quartets a la opera bouffe and all is resolved a la Shakespeare when le tout ensemble come together in the empty theater and dance off into the night as a haunting lyric performed by Peggy Lee implies that this is not the end of anything. Jeanne Balibar is the main attraction, Castellitto, so warm in Mostly Martha, turns down the heat on his natural charm but still turns in a solid performance. At two and a half hours it's clearly not for everyone but if you're one of those it IS for then this is for you (and let's face it, could Pirandello himself have put it better).

Andy (film-critic) One could consider this film like a cinematic whole-wheat pancake. Your film comes topped with butter, syrup, and all the fruits you can think of (the characters of the film). When it is presented originally Va Savoir looks tantalizingly delicious, but after ten minutes of eating you realize that you finished and still hungry. You realize that this mound of goodness was nothing more than fluffy cooked dough that will ultimately make you fat, lazy, and sleepy. While it may give you a high at first, the darkness of the inevitable 'sugar-low' is fast approaching and causing you to grab your stomach in disgust. Also, it was a flop. Perhaps that was a bit overboard, but I really wanted to explain this film in a way that was a bit more entertaining than the film itself. To put it bluntly, this film was like watching the grass grow in your back yard in anticipation of having to mow it again. It was slow, not very colorful, and a pain to sit through. When it finally gets too long, it hurts too much to do it again, but you know it must be done. That feeling is exactly how I felt about the film Va Savoir.This is a devoutly character based film. To make a deeply rooted character based film to work, you must first have exciting characters that you know your audience is going to want to follow. Sadly, this was not the case in this film. From the opening scene (where the subtitles were not working on my DVD) all the way till the final moments of the film, we have to follow four of the dullest characters in cinematic history. Cammille is our pilot, following an emotion and feeling that is never quite developed in the story and therefore never quite developed in her. Her mannerisms and reactions to situations made me feel as if she was a bit on the loony side. Perhaps it was the way that Jeanne Balibar chose to play her, but there was nothing making me believe that Cammille was a very strong character. Her actions throughout the film prove that much, but what are her motives and reasonings? That is never explained or developed, yet there was three hours to do it. Strange. This goes the same for Sonia, who I also never really fully grasped onto. She seemed to be in love, but at the same time enjoying moments with Arthur. Her need to rearrange made me think that her and Cammille had similar personalities (loony), which is what made them become friends near the end. Yet, again, it was never explained. We, the audience, were forced to follow a lot of assumptions in this film, and whenever we felt that we fully understood and connected with a character, Rivette would pull us further away. It was as if he never really wanted us to fully understand them, but still accept them. That didn't brood well with me.Couple this with random intermissions of the play that these performers are putting on for the Parisians only helps to confuse the audience. I couldn't tell if Cammille was actually acting in the play or just walking through the lines. Half the time it looked as if it bothered her to be there. There was no emotion or excitement when she was on stage prompting me to question whether she was this 'infamous' actress that they claimed her to be. I have seen several foreign films in my lifetime, but this one takes the cake as possibly the longest passenger car to Dullsville. I had trouble understanding the play that was happening throughout the film, thus causing me to care less about the characters. The final thirty minutes of this movie are actually fun. The scenes where Pierre and Ugo decide to duel are hysterical. I actually watched this scene over again because I enjoyed it so much. The connections made at the end tied the film up nicely, but still left too many questions unanswered. Overall, I was lost in this film. If you ever pick up this film and you see a blonde-hair, blue-eyes 26-year old wandering through the scenes, it is I just trying to understand this film. I can't figure it out, I can understand most Lynch, Gilliam, and others of the 'jigsaw puzzle' genre, but this was just beyond my control. The characters seemed drab and never fully comfortable in their roles, and those that were jumped between emotions like playing leapfrog in kindergarten. The stories were connected well, but it didn't make any difference if the characters (the glue of the stories) didn't hold them together. In your eyes, and in your DVD player, you can see where this film just falls apart. If you are looking for a stronger emotional powerhouse film where characters work with their characters and push the envelope even further, I would check out Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia. This film reminded me of Magnolia except bad. I don't suggest anyone wasting their three hours on this film, but who am I except a lost guy in this film. Again, if found, please return!Grade: * out of *****