This is the big one. The New York Times called it “the cinephile’s holy grail” and Eric Rohmer hailed it as “a cornerstone in the history of modern cinema”. After being impossible to see for many years, it was a great pleasure when we, in collaboration with our friends A Nos Amours, hosted the UK premiere of the new 2K restoration of Jacques Rivette’s Out 1 (Noli me tangere) in all its 773-minute glory.

We were delighted to return to The Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square, where the film screened two days on the 28th and 29th of November. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience this remarkable picture the way it should be seen – beautifully restored on the big screen. The UK repertory cinema event of the decade!

Loosely inspired by Honoré de Balzac’s La Comédie humaine, Out 1: Noli me tangere is an absorbing, multi-stranded epic involving a quest to uncover a secret society in post-May 1968 Paris, with an enormous cast made up of French heavyweights like Jean-Pierre Léaud, Juliet Berto and Bernadette Lafont, not to mention cameos from directors like Eric Rohmer and Barbet Schroeder.

Constructed as eight feature length episodes which run over almost thirteen hours, it was originally screened just once in its original cut in 1971, with rare subsequent screenings in the ‘90s and ‘00s becoming the stuff of legend in cinema circles.

 

The structure of the two days was as follows:

Day 1 – Saturday 28 November 2015
09:00 Doors open
09:15   Episodes 1 – 2 (199 minutes with a 10-minute break in between)
12:45   Intermission (40 minutes)
13:25   Episodes 2 – 4 (215 minutes with a 15-minute break in between)
17:15   End of Day 1

Day 2 – Sunday 29 November 2015
09:30 Doors open
09:50 Intro
10:00   Episodes 5 – 6 (190 minutes)
13:10   Intermission (60 minutes)
14:10   Episodes 7 – 8 (171 minutes)
17:15   End of Day 2

Want to know more? Check out our Out 1 FAQ.

 

The screening coincided with the release of Arrow Films’ The Jacques Rivette Collection on Blu-ray. The much-anticipated set features Out1: Noli me tangere, Out 1: Spectre, Duelle (une quarantaine), Noroit (une vengeance) and Merry-Go-Round, each restored and appearing for the first time on home video in the UK. The set can be ordered here: http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/shop/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=603

 

A PDF copy of our programme booklet for this event is available here.