Jacques Rivette

Jacques Rivette isn't the first name that comes up when discussing the French New Wave; Godard and Truffaut are the art-film equivalent of household names. But of all the directors who rebelled against France's mid-century Cinema of Quality, taking to the streets to catch life on the fly, Rivette was perhaps the one most open to the way life and art reflect each other, the one blurring imperceptibly into the other. Nobody has delved more deeply into our need to tell stories, and now you can delve with him when the UW Cinematheque opens a seven-week mini-retro of Rivette's work, starting with one of his most mysterious, 1974's Céline and Julie Go Boating (Saturday, Jan. 27, 4070 Vilas Hall, 7:30 p.m., free).