Duelle

Director: Jacques Rivette

1975 / 121min / DCP

The first film in an incomplete tetralogy planned by Rivette, alternately called “Les Filles de feu” and “Scenes de la vie parallele,” the dreamy Duelle features Bulle Ogier and Juliet Berto as Viva and Leni, respectively goddesses of the sun and moon, recruiting Parisian soldiers to serve in their contest—fought in the present day and prewar city, both seeming semi-abandoned—to gain control of a magic diamond that will allow one or the other of them to remain on Earth. Marked by an eerie calm, Rivette’s film of myth and magic amidst everyday settings rendered uncanny casts an eternally seductive spell.