Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £6.99 a month
Overview
Jacques Rivette’s biggest commercial hit is an exhilarating combination of the themes of theatricality, paranoia and ‘la vie parisienne’, all wrapped up in an extended and entrancing examination of the nature of filmmaking and film watching. Celine (Juliet Berto), a magician, and Julie (Dominique Labourier), a librarian, meet in Montmartre and wind up sharing the same flat, bed, fiancé, clothes, identity and imagination. Soon, thanks to a magic sweet, they find themselves spectators, then participants, in a Henry James-inspired 'film-within-a-film'.
The unfolding melodrama is set in a mysterious suburban house populated by the 'Phantom Ladies Over Paris' (Bulle Ogier and Marie-France Pisier), a sinister man (Barbet Schroeder) and his child. The atmosphere is more Lewis Carroll, with Juliet Berto and Dominique Labourier as twin Alices. Acknowledged by director Susan Seidelman as a huge influence on her own hit film Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), Celine and Julie Go Boating has a freewheeling, playful spirit that never tires. Ranked joint 78th in the 2022 Sight and Sound Great Films of All Time poll.
Related

Traffic Traffic
Crime 2000 147 mins Director: Steven Soderbergh
Steven Soderbergh’s Oscar-winning ensemble drama explores America’s war on drugs at the start of the 21st century.

The Girl on a Motorcycle The Girl on a Motorcycle
Drama 1968 88 mins Director: Jack Cardiff
Marianne Faithfull is the eponymous girl in this glorious, richly colourful slice of sixties British cinema.

Last Swim Last Swim
Drama 2024 96 mins Director: Sasha Nathwani
A day in the life of an ambitious 18-year-old Iranian-British girl transforms into a universal portrait of youth, hope and fears over an uncertain future.

The Count of Monte Cristo The Count of Monte Cristo
Drama 2024 178 mins Director: Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière
This rollicking take on Dumas’ swashbuckler, packed with lavish spectacle and high-stakes drama, slayed all Hollywood films at the French box-office.

A Special Day A Special Day
Drama 1977 106 mins Director: Ettore Scola
Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni deliver the finest and most nuanced performances of their careers in this understated masterpiece from director Ettore Scola.

The Ear The Ear
Thriller 1969 95 mins Director: Karel Kachyna
An official finds his home under surveillance and his marriage facing turbulence in this Orwellian portrait of life in Communist-era Czechoslovakia.

Swimming Pool Swimming Pool
Drama 2003 102 mins Director: François Ozon
A crime novelist seeks peace but gets a dangerous muse in this twisted bilingual thriller from François Ozon.

Enemy Enemy
Drama 2013 91 mins Director: Denis Villeneuve
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as doppelgängers in this dark, pulsating thriller from Denis Villeneuve.

The Passenger The Passenger
Drama 1974 126 mins Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Jack Nicholson is at his best in Michelangelo Antonioni’s tale of a burnt-out political correspondent swapping identities with a dead man.

Reawakening Reawakening
Thriller 2024 90 mins Director: Virginia Gilbert
BAFTA-winner Jared Harris stars as a father wrestling with uncertainty when his daughter reappears a decade after vanishing.

Memories of Murder Memories of Murder
Detective drama 2003 131 mins Director: Bong Joon Ho
A pair of detectives clash trying to solve the brutal murder of two women, in Bong Joon Ho’s masterful blend of true crime and dark social satire.

Following Following
Drama 1999 67 mins Director: Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan’s gritty neo-noir first feature about a young London writer who gets drawn into a criminal underworld.

War and Peace War and Peace
Documentary 2002 134 mins Director: Anand Patwardhan
The rise of nuclear nationalism in 1990s India is explored in a powerful and personal documentary from Anand Patwardhan.

Traffic Traffic
Crime 2000 147 mins Director: Steven Soderbergh
Steven Soderbergh’s Oscar-winning ensemble drama explores America’s war on drugs at the start of the 21st century.

Tell No One Tell No One
Crime 2006 131 mins Director: Guillaume Canet
A grieving man becomes convinced he is being framed for murder in Guillaume Canet’s gripping thriller, adapted from the Harlan Coben bestseller.

The Girl on a Motorcycle The Girl on a Motorcycle
Drama 1968 88 mins Director: Jack Cardiff
Marianne Faithfull is the eponymous girl in this glorious, richly colourful slice of sixties British cinema.

Sophia Loren: Reshaping Femininity Sophia Loren: Reshaping Femininity
Short documentary 2025 18 mins Director: Maha Albadrawi
Exclusive to BFI Player, a video essay exploring Sophia Loren’s 60s and 70s filmography, and how her work shook up Italian gender roles.

Diva Diva
Thriller 1981 117 mins Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix
A postal worker’s secret opera recording sparks a gripping chase through Paris in Jean-Jacques Beineix’s (Betty Blue) stylish crime-thriller.