Spectres: The Cinema of Jacques Rivette

From the fractious on-set relationship between its two leads, Joe Dallessandro and Maria Schneider, to a director on the verge of collapse, all accounts of Merry-Go-Round's production seem to point toward disaster, or at least attest to the film maudit label affixed by critics upon its release. And yet the film itself, defies such simple classification or dismissal.

A stunningly original work and perhaps the quintessential manifestation of Rivette's cinema of this period. Merry-Go-Round is a mystery in the purest sense, one that in the spirit of Out 1, emerges organically from the shooting of the film and the fractious combination of its two stars and its director. A film that Rivette and his cast and crew unravelled as they went along, and one which very much rewards those willing to take the same leap of faith while watching.