Le coup du berger

"Le Coup du Berger" is considered one of the earliest French New Wave films. It's a short from Jacques Rivette and like many other New Wave films is about a person who isn't necessarily to be liked or admired (much like Jean-Paul Belmondo in "Breathless").

When the story begins, an unfaithful wife is given a fur coat by her lover. Her concern is how to let the husband see the coat without arising his suspicions. All this is compared in the film to as a sort of chess game.

So is this worth watching? Well, for film historians, absolutely. After all, how can you know what the New Wave was or learn from it if you don't watch any of the films...and this is a seminal film from the movement. Now this is NOT the same as saying the film is necessarily enjoyable or brilliant...it's only mildly enjoyable and looks a bit like a cinematic film and a home movie combined stylistically. For the average person, far from being a must-see...but for film students and budding filmmakers, well worth your time...especially since at the end you get to see several influential New Wave directors playing extras.

"Claire is a chic young Parisian woman married to a somewhat older husband, Jean As the story opens, she leaves her husband playing baroque music at the piano, telling him she is off to see her sister, Solange. In reality she meets her lover, Claude at his apartment; After some idle chatter and love-making he tells her a story of the shriveled heads that the Jivaro Indians used to give their lovers as tokens of affection but, as she shivers in disgust, he gives her a mink instead. How will they hide it from her husband?"

Mediocrity. The narration did not make this any better. Intrusive or slightly vexing at best. The chess metaphor is clunky and forced.

At least it was not four hours. Or ten hours. Or whatever Rivette's average. Interesting to note, however, that- true to character- it was still longer than necessary to tell its story, complete with a predictable "twist".

Virginia Vitry's lover has given her a fur coat and she is delighted. There's just one problem. What will she tell her husband?

Jacques Rivette's short film is based on a Roald Dahl story and is a typically snide piece of fiction for both men. For Rivette, there is an air of post-war anomie in the entire matter, one that runs through most of his work and most of the French New Wave. There is no real joy, and the comedies are all mocking ones, efforts of the biter-bit variety, like this.

The movie ends at a party, one supposedly shot in Claude Chabrol's apartment. It's something of a coming-out party for the New Wave, with Chabrol, Godard and Truffaut among the guests.

I assume this is supposed to be a clever little vignette of a day in the life, so to speak, of the average modern married couple. There's little really to captivate the imagination or eye in what can be called the mystery of the fur coat. Thankfully, it was something to be endured for only half an hour.

An amuse-bouche of la nouvelle vague, clocking in at just 28 minutes and with a simple story. It's about a married woman who is given a fur coat by her lover, and tries to trick her husband into not knowing where it came from by stowing it in baggage claim and "finding" the ticket in a taxi. The chess metaphor for them maneuvering each other is weak and awkward, and to be honest, there isn't much verve in the performances or how this was filmed. The backward zoom shot of the lovers separating, reflecting the sudden distance between them, is the only one I perked up over, but seeing the various luminaries of the French New Wave as extras in the party scene was pretty cool. Worth a quick watch, mostly to think of the concentration of talent and what films like this would lead to.