Marianne is in a relationship with young painter Nicolas. He decides to go to a nearby castle to visit an old painter he admires, Frenhofer, who has not painted for 10 years. Frenhofer's wife, Liz, helps a friend, Porbus, who has a mild epileptic attack during dinner. Porbus then suggests that Marianne should be Frenhofer's model. Nicolas asks Marianne about it, and she angrily refuses the notion, but goes to Frenhofer's castle the next morning, anyway. Frenhofer starts drawing sketches of her in clothes, but then asks her to be a nude model. Marianne agrees, even though Frenhofer asks exhausting poses. He makes dozens of drawings, until finally settling on the look of the main painting. After completing it, Frenhofer hides the painting by building a wall of bricks around it, with only his little daughter knowing the secret. Frenhofer then announces his retirmenet, and Marianne, Liz, Nicolas and Porbus all attend his closing party.
One of the director Jacques Rivette's last achievements, a rare movie that is a quality dedication to the erotic beauty of the human body, "The Beautiful Troublemaker" is a peculiar art film that devotes a lot of time to its subject — painting — which is not for everyone's taste. With a running time of four hours, it is definitely too long, and yet, it is as if it takes its time to simply enjoy in this intimate little minimalist beauty. "The Beautiful Troublemaker" is a film essay on the process of creating art, on how both the circumstances and the model as the essence of this art affect the artist and influence the final outcome: it is a symbiotic relationship, and both need to show patience and teamwork to pull it through. The opening sequence contains a narrative codification: the heroine, Marianne (excellent Emmanuelle Beart) wants to make a photo of Nicolas, but he does not want that someone takes his picture, and in the second act, Marianne is ironically herself going to experience Nicolas' reluctant stance when she is herself going to be a model for painter Frenhofer. There are a lot of films about making films, yet this one is about how a painter is making a painting. And yet, one can also interpret this as Rivette's own observation on how he directs his actors in order to achieve this film. In the first half an hour, nothing happens. The main protagonists meet at the castle, chat about nothing and have dinner. If the viewers can pass through this segment, they will be met with the main plot tangle. One sequence is badly directed, though: during dinner, a guest, Porbus, has an epileptic attack and his head falls on the table, while only Liz helps him out, whereas Marianne, Nicolas and Frenhofer just remain sitting there, as if nothing happened (?).
Later that night, Frenhofer finally opens up and "slips" what he misses in his life: "I need a masterwork or nothing!" Marianne then enters the scene. At first she is reluctant, but still, something urges her to stand model for Frenhofer, as if she wants to be his masterwork of a lifetime to gain importance herself. At first, the movie spends 5 minutes on Frenhofer drawing a sketch of her in clothes, sitting, but it is no good. When she takes her clothes off, and poses naked, he starts making better drawings, as if this motivates him, as if this stimulates his creativity. Dozens of poses are made, with her lying, standing or sitting naked. There is a precious duality in their relationship: youth and old age; beauty and ugliness; arrogance and humbleness; naivety and wisdom. Frenhofer, it seems, cannot experience sexuality anymore due to his age, and thus the process of painting is his surrogate passion which he still feels. The theme is the therapeutic effect of having beauty in someone's life. Frenhofer's wife Liz is de facto the early Marianne, now an older lady, and she has some of the best lines in the movie: "They say when you are drowning the entire life flashes before your eyes in a second. Is it possible to capture the whole life on the canvas of a painting? It seems unbelievable, but this is what Frenhofer was actually searching for." In another sequence at night, she talks with Frenhofer: "Shooting stars". - "Make a wish." - "It's too late for that." - "Why are you saying that?" - "Because I stopped expecting things." Despite all of these virtues, "The Beautiful Troublemaker" is still a little bit overhyped. We needed more moments where Frenhofer and Marianne bond, such as the sequence where he falls from his chair and she leans forward, worried, but he just tells her not to move because she accidentally made a perfect pose. Is it a very good, gentle and ambitious little art film? Yes. Is it a great film that completely justifies its 4-hours of running time? No.
Grade:+++
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