La Belle Noiseuse



""La Belle Noiseuse" is the best film I have ever seen about the physical creation of art, and about the painful bond between an artist and his muse."

- Roger Ebert

La Belle Noiseuse is a film by Jacques Rivette, loosely based on a story by Balzac, The Unfinished Masterpiece. Starring Emmanuelle Béart and Michel Piccoli, it was released in 1991. A shorter, made-for-TV version was released in 1993 under the title Divertimento. The title translates loosely as "The Pretty Troublemaker".

Nicolas, a young artist, visits in the company of his girlfriend Marianne (Béart) a famous painter, Frenhofer (Piccoli), who has for the last several years been living as a recluse with his wife in their old house in Provence. Frenhofer no longer paints, and among his unfinished works is a portrait of a nude woman, "La Belle Noiseuse", for which he had used his wife as a model.

At the urging of his agent, Frenhofer agrees to resume his work on the nude portrait. Nicolas, in Marianne's absence, decides to "lease" his girlfriend to the painter so she can be his new model. Incensed that the deal took place without her consent, Marianne nonetheless agrees to pose in the nude for Frenhofer. Inspired by her youth and beauty, the painter starts over with a new version of "La Belle Noiseuse" with a vengeance.


 * May-December Romance: Averted. The relationship between the old painter and his twentysomething model is erotically charged, but remains platonic and non-romantic.
 * The Muse: Marianne to Frenhofer; reluctantly at first, then willingly.
 * Reluctant Fanservice Girl: Marianne resents that she's been tricked into posing for Frenhofer, but she ends up spending most of the movie completely naked.
 * Take Our Word for It:
 * Talent Double: When Frenhofer's hands are seen in close-up while he's painting, the one holding the brush is actually a professional painter.
 * Untranslated Title