The pros and cons of watching a 13 hour film at… | Little White Lies

The pros and cons of watch­ing a 13 hour film at the cinema

13 Nov 2015

A man standing in front of a store called "L'Angle du Hasard", smoking a cigarette.
A man standing in front of a store called "L'Angle du Hasard", smoking a cigarette.
Help our writer to decide whether she should take on the ulti­mate cine-chal­lenge: Jacques Rivette’s Out 1

To the delight of Lon­don cinephiles, Bad­lands Col­lec­tive and A Nos Amours recent­ly announced a rare screen­ing of Jacques Rivette’s Out 1. This noto­ri­ous 1971 fea­ture com­pris­ing of ten, rough­ly 90 minute episodes charts the obscure, cloak-and-dag­ger activ­i­ties of two rival the­atre troupes. It is set to be screened across two days – Sat­ur­day 28 and Sun­day 29 Novem­ber – at The Prince Charles Cin­e­ma in Lon­don, and frankly, I’m torn as to whether this kind of gigan­tic invest­ment in the glo­ry of cin­e­ma might turn out to be a big ol’ waste of time.

Pros of going

  • To sup­port the pas­sion­ate endeav­ours of Bad­lands and A Nos Amours.
  • Some say it is a masterpiece.
  • Cosy, social things will be hap­pen­ing when the film is not play­ing. There will be a din­ner on Sat­ur­day night.
  • It’s not going to be screened again any time soon. Miss it. Miss Out (1).
  • This has the poten­tial to be one of the screen­ing events of eternity.

Cons of going

  • There goes the weekend.
  • Haven’t heard of or read a case for Out 1’s mas­ter­piece sta­tus that tru­ly lands.
  • Had a bad expe­ri­ence last time I tried to watch 13 hours of film at the cin­e­ma. Look­ing at you, Berlin Alexanderplatz.
  • Sit­ting silent­ly on a soli­tary seat in a dark room con­front­ed by a flick­er­ing images that do not inter­est is a high-brow form of torture.
  • It would be worse to go and be a hater than to not go and nev­er know.

What are your thoughts on this screen­ing and extend­ed cin­e­ma expe­ri­ences in gen­er­al? Let us know @LWLies

Buy tick­ets to see Out 1 at princecharlescin​e​ma​.com

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