Divertimento

Divertimento is director Jacques Rivette's two-hour version of his four-hour La Belle Noiseuse (The Beautiful Troublemaker). It is proof that less is less. The story of a blocked painter (Michel Piccoli) and a headstrong young model (Emanuelle Béart) needs all four hours to explore the complex and painful interchanges between creation and inspiration. What had been a beautiful, compelling film, filled with erotic and emotional buzz and a truly painterly use of light, is now half a beautiful, compelling one. C+