by Linda Kay
Original Title: Histoire de Marie et Julien
Starring: Gaspard
Directed by: Jacques Rivette
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: Clock repair man Julien (Jerzy Radziwilowicz) bumps into former love interest Marie (Emmanuelle Béart) and they rekindle their relationship which is rife with confusion thanks in no small part to a blackmail scheme and an underlying mystery that may make their romance impossible.
Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Julien lives alone in a large house with an adorable wide-eyed tuxedo cat named Nevermore.
The first time we see them together, Julien lays down on a bed. The cat actor seems spooked by the camera as it rolls closer. His gaze then moves upwards, probably where the boom mike is dangling, but this may have been intentional as Julien assures Nevermore that no one lives upstairs any more (another former girlfriend occupied the rooms previously).
Julien and Nevermore are extremely close and share many scenes together.
The cat even starts to follow Marie around when she moves in and explores the upstair rooms.
A very curious cat who likes to explore, Nevermore is intrigued and climbs all around while Julien works on a large clock mechanism in his living room.
The cat is often present during interactions between Julien and Marie.
One day Nevermore climbs across the book Marie is reading and leads her to a small clock on the wall.
Pawing at the glass covering the clock, Nevermore reveals to Marie some items which Julien is using to blackmail a woman known only as Madame X (Anne Brochet).
Far from being critical of the crime, Marie actually helps Julien by being the one who collects the money in exchange for the various incriminating items. At other times Marie seems obsessed with one of the upstair rooms, decorating it in a very specific way as Nevermore watches.
Marie becomes more distant and mysterious and one day Julien returns to find her gone.
Eventually Marie returns and her secret is revealed. During these touching moments, Julien repeatedly turns to Nevermore for comfort.
Nevermore was played with incredible aplomb by cat actor Gaspard who was trained by Manuel Senra for Fauna & Films. Reportedly the original screenplay included a cat who could actually speak many different languages. While Gaspard was an amazingly talented thespian, this very likely would have been quite a stretch even for him. Not surprisingly, Gaspard’s performance is almost always singled out for specific praise in reviews of the film, some citing Nevermore as the best character in the film.
Director Jacques Rivette was a known lover of cats, having also featured them in his film Celine and Julie Go Boating.
He must have been quite impressed with Gaspard’s performance and even posed with the cat actor in several publicity photos.
Final Mewsings: Cats can figure out the truth about people pretty quickly.
Many thanks to Ted Davis for letting us know about the cat in this film.
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