This is part 2 of a 4 post look at Rivette's 1974 film Celine and Julie go Boating. The introduction can be read here.
HOUR 1
"Besides, she’s she, and I’m I, and—oh dear, how puzzling it all is!" (Carroll, "Wonderland" , 14)
Unlike Alice, Celine and Julie are untroubled by their identities (even if it may be one sole person that exists)
The first half of Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974) functions as an introduction to its characters and themes. For this first hour much emphasizes is placed upon Celine’s boredom with day to day living (specifically her job, her absent boyfriend and her empty flat) and the disruptive and welcome change Julie brings with her. In a sense Julie is a white Rabbit to Celine’s Alice at the beginning of the film. The film paints Celine and Julie’s meeting as seemingly pre-destined by tarot cards and library books. When the two do finally meet, Celine is destined to look after the now amnesiac Julie, and both are destined to solve the mystery of the house on rue des pommes. This first hour frequently presents themes of predestined fate, from Celine’s tarot cards to Julie’s stumble into Celine’s flat.
"suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her. There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!” (Carroll, Wonderland, 2)
Scholar Beatrice Loayza identifies the first scene of Celine sitting on a park bench, reading a book and suddenly seeing Julie as “like the muttering White Rabbit running late for his appointment in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” (Loayza, 2021, State of Play) By making this the key first scene, Rivette places notions of carrollian whimsy at the forefront of his film. This can also be seen in this first half in the many scenes in which the two women swap identities (Julie becoming Celine to break up the other’s relationship to her boyfriend, Celine becoming Julie when she has to miss a magic show) In essence Rivette’s film absorbs the identity themes of Carroll’s novels and takes them to their furthest point: here both Alice like characters are “split” but are so intertwined that other characters easily mistake them for each other. As such Julie could also be considered an invention by Celine due to boredom or a projection of a more carefree side of her psyche. This could be a potential reason as to why Celine is not unnerved by Celine's sudden arrival at her flat and integration into her life.
The first hour of the film is all about this act of merging identities and places. Many parts of this hour feel arbitrary but later take on a deeper significance. Celine standing in at the magic show and Julie annoying Celine’s boyfriend all seem like detours but can be also perceived as laying the groundwork for future intrigues. Like the Maries in Daisies (1966), an influence on this film, Celine and Julie's personalities appear Interchangeable and interlinked. Less hedonistic and a few years older than the 17 year old Maries of Daisies, Celine and Julie do share a similar sense of playfulness and by extension and Alice style sense of curiosity. Scholar Kirsten Yoonsoo Kim identifies that structurally this first hour also mimics Daisies, "Céline... Julie... meet, move in together, and frolic around the city and fool men." Like the Maries, their identity swapping is an act of rebellion, the identity swapping detours involve both Celine and Julie not bowing to the wishes of the people around them: “Julie... intentionally blows an audition that might have catapulted Céline into globe-trotting fame” (Broughton, 2021, a Feminist adventure...)
By smashing up other character’s perceptions and wants from them, Celine and Julie free themselves to dive head-first into the carrollian mystery of the house on rue des pommes. The house is at this point seen only in glimpses, Celine remembers glimpses of working there, but the audience at this point are only shown flashes. The most we glimpse of the house in this first hour is in an carroll like scene where Celine attempts to get into the house, after seeing a cat rush out of the door. The house is set up as a hanging mystery which is elaborated on much later in the film.
Essays:
Broughton, Lee "A feminist adventure unfolds when Celine and Julie Go Boating" Popmatters, January 9th, 2018. https://www.popmatters.com/celine-and-julie-go-boating-feminist-film-2522111673.html
Kim, Kristen Yoonsoo. “The Triumph of 'Céline and Julie Go Boating'.” The Nation, April 6, 2021. https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/celine-julie-boating-review/
Loayza, Beatrice. “Céline and Julie Go Boating: State of Play.” The Criterion Collection. Accessed July 13, 2021. https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7316-c-line-and-julie-go-boating-state-of-play.
Books:
Carroll, Lewis "Alice's adventures in Wonderland" London: Puffin Books, 1994.
