From here Riviera divides in two, the mother's story and the daughter's, and like all good movies dealing with dual stories running parallel to each other, they intersect in interesting and convincing ways. One of the hotel's guests, an uptight businessman named Romansky, played by Elie Semoun, becomes enamored with Stella after a chance meeting outside Milk, and asks her for a date. She agrees, and they arrange to meet the next night for dinner. The dinner goes well, and from here the film gets convoluted, but in a good way. Sexuality and violence mix, one born from the other, and the mother becomes involved in a very peculiar fashion.
A few things about this film stand out. First is the wonderful cinematography — the sun scorched roads of the Riviera contrast nicely with the soft summer nights, each environment shot with affection and technical expertise. The soundtrack is also spectacular. High energy electronic music as well as slow tempo rock accentuates scenes, pushing them forward and giving us emotional cues even while the actors are seemingly in stasis. From the opening track, Nouvelle Vague's “In A Manner of Speaking”, the soundtrack fuels the plot, several songs popping up multiple times, reflecting back on each other. The acting is well done; facial expressions and gestures are used in place of awkward exposition, and the actors give the impression that they are reacting to moments, rather than trudging along a determined course.
My one minor complaint is in regard to parts of the editing. While some of it is professional and smooth, it is common for some of the cuts to seem startling, working against the intentions of the sequences. I expect some more dissolves and fading as opposed to the direct cuts often utilized would have lent Riviera a quality of inevitability, rather than feeling forced and rigid.
As for the Auteurs' viewing interface, it's straightforward and simplistic, and while I did experience moments of buffering, these were very few and far between. The quality of the video is as high as could be expected for a full movie streamed, and while it might not be wise to watch something of epic scope (Lawrence of Arabia, any of Ford's Westerns) on it, it is well-suited to the intimate films they seem to favor. All in all I give both Riviera and The Auteurs website a big thumbs up, and hope to see films of similar caliber in the same medium.
Article comments
1 - Melissa
Hi Joshua,
Thanks for writing about us! We'd love to stay in touch. I can't find your contact info anywhere, but you can find me on The Auteurs- Melissa Miranda.
Best
Melissa