Celine and Julie Go Boating

Jacques Rivette's 1974 tale of a librarian and a magician in Paris who discover strange goings-on in a possibly haunted house tries to walk the fine line between mysterious and merely boring, but falls decisively on the lethargic side early on. Shot on 16mm, the colors are faded, the story incredibly convoluted (when it makes sense, which is rarely), and the 193 minute running time is pure torture. Sadistic film professors may want to inflict this on their students as a sterling example of just how atrociously self-indulgent ‘70s French cinema could be, but everyone else can safely skip. Not recommended. (R. Pitman)