Le Pont du Nord

A movie that pushes the conspiratorial playfulness of Rivette's Céline and Julie in directions both maddening and magical. Ogier and her daughter Pascale are here the crossed-paths comrades impulsively taking up the silent challenge of the city's codes: hopscotching the map of Paris' arrondissements and turning it into a life-size outdoor board game. As ever in Rivette's labyrinthine re-imaginings of the urban obstacle course, the rules and goals are obscure while the allusive clues, keys and signposts multiply alarmingly. Underworld and wonderland merge in the open air; joyous whimsy blurs with justified worry; and Rivette risks exploring the scarifying powers of fantasy and paranoia with a panning, punning documentary eye. With so many oblique strategies, a little irritation is inevitable...but if you could possibly imagine a pre-micro Tron, the leaps of faith needed here shouldn't be difficult.