The former famous painter Frenhofer lives quietly with his wife on a countryside residence in the French Provence. When the young artist Nicolas visits him with his girlfriend Marianne, Frenhofer decides to start again the work on a painting he long ago stopped: La Belle Noiseuse. And he wants Marianne as model.
The underlying ideas may be a little droopy, but they're staged in such exacting, private terms that they are redeemed.
– Hal Hinson,
Washington Post,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
Some movies are worlds that we can sink into, and La Belle Noiseuse is one of them.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
Hypnotically beautiful.
– Vincent Canby,
New York Times,
30 Aug 2004
fresh:
As impeccably shot as its subject deserves, the film is more accessible than most of Rivette's work, with characteristically playful passing nods to the relationship between life and performance.
– Geoff Andrew,
Time Out,
26 Jan 2006
fresh:
Rivette's superb sense of rhythm and mise en scene never falters, and the plot has plenty of twists.