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Though more amateurish than the other celebrated first features of the French New Wave, Jacques Rivette's troubled and troubling 1960 account of Parisians in the late 50s remains the most intellectually and philosophically mature, and one of the most beautiful. The specter of world-wide conspiracy and impending apocalypse haunts the characters — a student, an expatriate American, members of a low-budget theater company rehearsing Pericles — as the student tries to recover a tape of guitar music by a deceased Spanish emigre who may have committed suicide. Few films have more effectively captured a period and milieu; Rivette evokes bohemian paranoia and sleepless nights in tiny one-room flats, along with the fragrant, youthful idealism conveyed by the film's title (which is countered by the opening epigraph from Charles Peguy: “Paris belongs to no one”).

BD50 + DVD9 | 1080p AVC, NTSC | 02:22:09 | 45.2 Gb + 7.56 Gb
Language: Francais
Subtitles: English
Genre: Drama, Mystery

Director: Jacques Rivette
Cast: Betty Schneider, Giani Esposito, Francoise Prevost
Country: France

Extras:

• Richard Neupert - in this brand new interview, Richard Neupert, professor of film studies at the University of Georgia and author of A History of the French New Wave Cinema, discusses the career of Jacques Rivette, some of the early films he championed, and the styles and themes of his debut feature, Paris Belongs to Us. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in 2015. In English, not subtitled. (25 min, 1080i).

• Le Coup du Berger - Jacques Rivette directed this early short film about an adulterous wife in 1956. The wife is played by Virginie Vitry while Jean-Claude Brialy (Le beau Serge) becomes the lover. Also, there are cameos by Jacques Rivette, Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, and Claude Chabrol. In French, with optional English subtitles. (29 min, 1080p).